YuGiOh! GX The Holy Warriors
by Kasperow
Summary: Ben finds himself facing off against another Pro, who starts off hard, gaining the upper hand in the first round. However, Ben makes an unexpected counterattack. Later, the Agents prepare to make a move. Unexpected Counterattack! Rated T for safety.
1. The Next Generation

Here is the first chapter of the rewritten version of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX - The Holy Warriors. It's the same storyline as intended in the previous version, but with less focus on watching everything from Xander's point of view. Hope you enjoy it.

* * *

_**Chapter 1:**_

_The Next Generation_

Year 2014: Duel round 15.

"… What am I supposed to do?" the young brown-haired boy thought to himself. "I've only got a single card left in my hand and I have nothing to protect myself with." He slowly moved his hand towards his deck, preparing to draw, what might be the last card in the duel. "Ok, here goes nothing" he said as he pulled the topmost card out of his Duel-Disk. For a moment he stared at the card, but then he placed it on the Duel-Disk on his left arm. "I play a monster in defense mode and that's all" the boy said, ending his turn. Then his opponent drew a card from his own deck.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/Xander: - - - - - Proctor/

/0200 LP - - - - - - -?? LP/

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"Do you really think that you can protect yourself against my monsters?" the young boy's opponent asked. "Let me give you a clue. You can't. You're going to lose this duel and I'll prove it." The young boy didn't pay him any mind. "Now, I'll tribute my 'Insect Knight' (1900/1000) to Tribute Summon 'Saber Beetle' (2400/600) in Attack Position." As the card was placed on the Duel-Disk, the giant beetle appeared between the two duelists. "Now, if you still don't believe me, you'll be in for a surprise. Saber Beetle! Attack that unknown monster." The giant beetle slowly crawled towards the young boy and stabbed its horn through his monster, destroying it instantly. "You've lost, applicant" the young boy's opponent said.

"But why? My monster took the hit for me" the young boy exclaimed. "As long as I have Life Points left, I will continue fighting."

"But that's the problem. You don't have any Life Points left" his opponent replied bragging. "My Saber Beetle just wiped away the last 200 of them."

"No way!" The young boy shouted angry. "My monster was in Defense Position. I didn't lose any Life Points!"

"Then take a look at your Duel-Disk and see" his opponent said. "Whenever my Saber Beetle attacks a Defense Position monster, the difference between the Saber Beetle's Attack Points and the attacked monster's Defense Points is dealt as battle damage to your Life Points." The boy fell down on his knees, slowly leaning more and more forward, until he had to stretch out his arms, to avoid falling completely. "You've lost, applicant" his opponent said. "Better luck next year."

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/Xander: - - - - - Proctor/

/0000 LP - - - - - - -?? LP/

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"I can't believe this" the young boy mumbled. "This was the only duel in my life I could not afford to lose, yet I lost anyway." The young boy tried to get up, when four other boys at the same age came running, helping him get up.

"You alright, Xander?" one of them asked. Xander looked up and wiped away some tears from his eyes.

"Yeah, I'm alright" Xander said. "I'm sorry I lost. I guess this means we won't see each other for the next year." Xander tried to smile, but he just couldn't.

"Don't worry" another of them replied. "You'll just have to get better. I'm sure you can do it."

"Yeah, you'll make it" a third said. "You may still be new at dueling, but you'll make it through next year."

"Thanks, guys" Xander replied. Without saying anything else, he left the building, mumbling. "I'll make it through the Entrance Exam next year. I promise…"

One year later:

A sharp ray of light shone through Xander's window. The boy tossed, trying to hide from the light, but instead he threw himself out of his bed. He landed with a thud and woke. Rubbing his head, he looked at his alarm clock. "WHAT!!" he shouted as he saw the neon-green numbers. "8.15!" Xander despaired. It should have woken him an hour ago. After all, today was the one day he couldn't afford to sleep in on. Today was to important to miss. It was the day when he might finally be reunited with his friends again. Not having the time to shower, Xander dressed immediatly, already wide awake. He was downstairs in less than five minutes and ate a loaf of bread as he tied his shoes.

"You shouldn't have stayed up so long" his mother lectured.

"I know, I know" Xander said, hurrying up. "Thanks for the bread, mom" he said and rushed out the door, Duel-Disk on arm and deck in his belt.

"Good luck" she shouted but Xander was already to far away.

Xander sprinted through the city streets. Everywhere, adults were on their way to work, business meetings or something else. And everywhere, Xander bumbed into someone. "Excuse me, passing through, make way." Xander ran as fast as the mob allowed him to. "I'll never get to the Entrance Exam if this keeps up" he thought. "This crowd is simply to big." He continued but knew he was runnning late already. "If only there was another route..." Then, as to answer his prayers, Xander noticed an alley on the other side. "Maybe I can move faster there?"

Hoping the best, Xander plotted a course for the alley. He entered and turned left, still making his way towards the Exam Halls."Alright" he thought. "There's no one here!" Xander sped up, mobilising every ounce of energy he had. He ran past a series of smaller alleyways, when he finally had to stop to catch his breath. Gasping, he looked at his watch. He still had about 20 minutes. Allowing himself a few minutes to catch his breath, he leaned up against a wall.

"AAARRG!" Xander nearly jumped with surprise when he heard the scream. Looking around, Xander saw no one in the alleys. He looked at his watch again. It had only been a minute, so he still had a little time. Before realising what he was doing, Xander raced through the alleys in direction of the scream. He turned a corner and saw a fainted, young boy. He had a Duel-Disk on his arm but his cards laid scattered around him. On the opposite side of the alley stood a tall man in a strange robe.

"What happened to him?" Xander asked as he dropped down to check on the boy. His puls was weak, but at least he had survived whatever happened.

"He lost a duel" the robed man said.

"Huh?" Xander looked up, holding the boys head in his hands. "This doesn't happen when you lose a duel." In his mind he added: "I know. I've lost countless of times..."

"It does, when you duel against an agent of the T.E." the robed man said omniosly. Xander looked puzzled but the man simply turned to leave.

"Hey, wait a minute, mister!" he yelled. "I'm not leaving before I know who did this. Did you see which way he left?"

"Actually" the man said and stopped. "That would be me."

"Then, I challange you to a duel!" Xander said and stood up, preparing his Duel-Disk.

"Oh, really..." the man said and turned to face Xander. "Despite what happened to that other child, you still wish to duel me?" Without leaving time for Xander to answer, he said: "Well, I accept."

"Alright then" Xander replied. "And since I'm the challenger, it's only fair that you choose you goes first."

"It doesn't matter" the robed man said. "For all that matters, you can go first."

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/Xander: - - - Robed Guy/

/4000 LP- - - - - 4000 LP/

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"Fine, then" Xander said, as both duelists drew the first five cards. He had a feeling that this wasn't just an ordinary duel. If the other guy could faint from losing a duel, then he might as well. No matter what, Xander knew he had to be careful. "I draw" he said as picked the card on top of his deck. He looked at it for a moment, before he placed it in his hand. "I'll set a single card face-down and then, I summon my 'Radiant Drake' (1600/1000) in Attack Position." As Xander placed the card on the Duel-Disk, it emitted a holographic projection of the small white dragon with shining orbs on what would seem like its shoulders. "That's all for now."

"Then it's my turn. I draw" the person replied and drew a card. "I'll set a card face-down as well. Then I summon my 'Dark Blade' (1800/1500) in Attack Position." The Duel-Disk emitted a projection of a knight in a pitch-black armor, wielding two longswords. "Now, Dark Blade. Attack his Radiant Drake!" The knight ran towards the dragon and cut it in pieces and Xander's Life Points dropped to 3800.

"Urgh" Xander grunted, as he was hit by the small shockwave, created when his monster was destroyed. "Not bad, but still not good enough either. You see, when you destroyed my Radiant Drake, its effect kicked in."

"What?" the person exclaimed.

"Whenever my Radiant Drake is destroyed in battle, if the monster that destroyed my Drake had either the same or a higher level, you lose Life Points equal to 100 times the level of the attacking monster" Xander explained. "In other words, you lose 400 Life Points." The mysterious person's Life Points dropped to 3600.

"Gah. I end my turn here" the mysterious person said.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/Xander: - - - Robed Guy/

/3800 LP - - - - - 3600 LP/

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"Alright. Let's end this quick, shall we? I draw!" Xander replied as he pulled the topmost card from his deck. "Now tell me. Who are you?" He asked shouting. "And what did you do to that boy."

"I merely imprisoned his soul in the shadows" the robed person said. "Just like I'll imprison you."

"Hmpf. We'll see about that" Xander said angrily. "Now, I summon my 'Bolt Drake' (1400/1700) in attack mode." A yellow dragon with wings made of pure electricity and two yellow orbs on what would seem like its shoulders appeared on the field. "Are you ready?"

"For what?" the person asked. "You can't destroy my Dark Blade with such a weak monster."

"Watch me. Bolt Drake!" Xander said. "Attack and destroy Dark Blade!" The dragon fired bolt of lightning at the knight, who was instantaneously vaporized.

"What happened?" the mysterious person asked. "Where did my monster go?"

"To the graveyard" Xander replied. "Whenever my Bolt Drake attacks a monster with higher attack power, that monster is changed into Defense Position, and it loses Defense Points equal to 100 times its level."

"Gah!" The mysterious person grunted.

"Now, I'll end my turn" Xander said quickly. "And tell me. Who are you?"

"Does that really matter if you're going to be imprisoned in the shadows?" the person said.

"Well, guess we'll just have to see about that" Xander said raising his voice a bit. "Now make your move."

"Okay then. I draw!" the person replied. "And I'll activate my Spell Card, 'Premature Burial'. By paying 800 Life Points, I can Special Summon a monster from my graveyard and equip it with this card." The person's Life Points dropped to 2800. "Now return, Dark Blade." The pitch-black armored knight reappeared on the field in front of the mysterious person. "Not that he'll be here for long. 'Cause now I tribute him, in order to Special Summon 'Pitch-Black Demon Knight' (2500/1300)." The knight slowly turned into a demonic creature, that didn't bear the slightest resemblence to the tributed monster.

"What is that?" Xander asked at the sight of the demon.

"It's a monster that can only be summoned by sacrificing a Dark Warrior-type monster on the field, that is also equipped with at least one card" the person said. "But the effects are devastating."

"That sounds bad" Xander replied.

"Now, let me show you the first" the person said. "By discarding two cards to the graveyard, I can remove from play a card on your side of the field. So say goodbye to your face-down card."

"Not that fast" Xander said. "If it has to go out of play, I might as well activate it. So I activate, 'Draconic Rebirth'. This trap lets me Special Summon a 'Drake'-monster to my side of the field from the graveyard and none of my 'Drake'-monsters can be destroyed this turn." Xander picked the dragon in his graveyard. "So come right back, Radiant Drake."

"Darn it" the mysterious person said. "I can't attack during the turn I activate one of my demon's effects. I end my turn."

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/Xander: - - - Robed Guy/

/3800 LP- - - - - 2800 LP/

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"Fine by me. I draw!" Xander said, as he drew a card. He looked at it for a moment. "Alright better make this quick. I've only got about five minutes left" he thought as he placed the card in the Duel-Disk. "I activate 'Polymerization', to fuse together my Radiant Drake and my Bolt Drake." The two dragons merged together, creating a new monster. "To Fusion Summon, 'Lightning Drake' (2300/1400) in Attack Position." The giant white dragon with yellow eyes and shining yellow energy orb on its wings and every joint in its four legs, appeared on the field, roaring. "Now, I activate my field spell, 'Dragon's Den'. In short, all 'Drake'-monsters gain 500 extra Attack Points." The alley surrounding the two duelists slowly turned into a den, made of wood. "Now, Lightning Drake, attack that demon-thing!" The giant dragon charged the energy in the orbs, led it to the mouth and fired it at the demon. As the demon was struck by the electric bolt, it was destroyed instantly.

"Argh" the person said as his Life Points dropped to 2600.

"It gets better yet" Xander said. "I activate the quick-play Spell Card, 'De-fusion' from my hand to split my Lightning Drake into the two Fusion Materials." The dragon was split into the two smaller dragons, that had been fused just a while ago. "Now, Radiant Drake! Bolt Drake! Attack him directly!" The two dragons each fired a beam of energy at the mysterious person, whose Life Points were reduced to 0. Xander turned off his Duel-Disk.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/Xander: - - - Robed Guy/

/3800 LP - - - - - 0000 LP/

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"Hmpf. So you won" the person said as he got up. "Seems like you were lucky, that I wasn't using my own deck."

"I don't care about if it was your own cards" Xander said loudly. "Just tell me. Who are you?"

"I've already told you" the person replied. "I'm an agent of the T.E."

"I know that" Xander said. "But what's your name?"

"My name is Raul" the person answered quickly.

"Fine then, Raul" Xander said. "I'm kinda in a hurry here, so if you just do as I ask you to, things will be easier for both of us."

"That depends" Raul replied. "Since you beat me, I'll return this boy's soul to its body." Raul stretched out his left hand, holding the open palm towards the unconscious boy's body. For a short moment, a little light emanated from Raul's palm and the boy opened his eyes. "I have restored his soul to his body. Now, unless you require anything more, I'll be leaving."

Xander was about to say something, when the boy next to him moaned. He turned and dropped down to check on him. His breathing was shallow but at least he was breathing. Xander looked up at where Raul had been standing only a minute ago. Now, the alley was empty, with the exception of Xander and the boy.

The boy moved again and Xander looked back at him. The boy was about his age and build. He slowly opened his eyes and tried to focus on Xander. It took a minute before he was able to see clearly.

"What happened?" Xander asked. "Are you okay?"

"I... I don't know" the boy started. "I was on my way to the exams, when I was challanged by some guy. He said I had to duel him and when I lost, I blacked out. Next thing I know, I woke up here."

"You were on your way to the exams?" Xander asked. The boy nodded and Xander smiled. "Great. I'm on my way there to. But we have to hurry, they'll be closing soon. Can you walk?" Xander helped the boy to his feet and together, they made their way out of the alleys, towards the exams.

* * *

Well, hopefully you liked the chapter and you're welcome to leave me a review. I don't hope card effects are not explained well enough, but if they are, let me know and I'll fix that.


	2. A Duel For Friends

Well, here it is. The second chapter of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX - The Holy Warriors. Not much else to say, really.

* * *

_**Chapter 2:**_

_A duel for friends_

"Do you know what way it is?" Xander asked the young boy, as they navigated through the alleys. The tall brick-walls on both sides of them, prevented the sunlight from getting into the alleys, thus making it harder for them to see.

"I'm not sure, but just a minute" the young boy said, as he pulled out a piece of paper from his red bag and unfolded it, revealing it to be a map of the city. "If I'm not wrong, we should be here" he said, pointing at the map. "And the blue cross here, is where I've been told the Entrance Exams should be." Xander looked at the large map for a moment.

"So if we're supposed to make it in time, we'll have to head straight down this alley, turn left and then right at the third side-alley to the right?" Xander asked. "Great. Let's get moving. We don't have much time left."

"Just a moment" the boy said. "I'll just fold the map and then I'm ready."

"We don't have time for that" Xander replied. "Can't you fold the map while running?"

"There" the boy said, as he stuffed the map back in his bag. "I'm ready now. Let's get moving!" The two boys ran as fast as they could down the alley, knowing what way they should run. After about two minutes, the boys emerged on the sidewalk across the street from the large stadium, where the Entrance Exams would take place. They hurried to the other side of the street, as soon as they couldn't see any cars. As the two boys entered the glassy stadium, they saw that a couple of other duelists were dueling.

"Alright, now that we're here, all we need to do is find the registration counter" Xander said, looking for the counter.

"I think it's over there" the boy replied, pointing towards a table with three relatively young people, each with a list of names in front of them.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Xander asked and stepped over to the table. "Hey, there. Is this where we can register for the Entrance Exams?"

"Yes" the young man in front of him said. "Just tell me your name and we'll mark you as arrived."

"Fine, then" Xander said. "My name's Alexander Barkley, but people call me Xander."

"All right then, Alexander Barkley" the receptionist said. "You've been registered and assigned to Duel Arena number 3."

"Wait, Duel Arena number 3?" Xander asked puzzled. "Last year I wasn't assigned to any specific Duel Arena."

"That's a new system that they've made" the receptionist said. "And you're lucky. You two barely arrived in time. A minute later and it would've been too late."

"Great" Xander replied and stepped away from the counter. "Are you going to register?" he asked the young boy.

"Uh, sure" the boy said nervously and stepped up to the counter. "All I have to do is tell you my name, right?"

"That's correct" the receptionist replied.

"Fine. My name's Shane Parker" the boy said.

"Just a moment" the receptionist replied. "Ah, there you are. Good, you've been registered and assigned to Duel Arena 4."

"Thanks" Shane said and went over to Xander. "So, how about finding those arenas and get this over with?" he suggested shortly.

"Well, I can't honestly claim that I'm against that idea" Xander replied. "I've got a duel to win, after all. And personally, I think it's quite important for me to win."

"Fine then" Shane said. "Let's find those arenas and beat some proctors." Xander didn't say anything. Instead, he just nodded a single time in response. They both looked around in the huge hall and saw a dozen of duelists, who were busy dueling.

"I guess that's where the Duel Arenas are" Xander said after a moment. "Hey, I've got an idea. Let's make a deal."

"What kind of deal?" Shane asked curiously. "If it involves being unconscious, I decline immediately."

"Being unconscious? Who do you think I am?" Xander replied in an ironic tone. "I was thinking about something like, the one that finishes his duel last gives a sandwich."

"What do you mean?" Shane asked. "You're saying that if I win my duel, before you win yours, you'll give a sandwich? I'm in."

"Great" Xander replied smiling. "Are you ready?" Shane nodded instead of saying anything. Then the two young boys went down the stairs next to them, down to the central part of the building, where the duels would take place. They both found and entered their respective arena at the same time. However, as Xander entered his arena, the proctor just went up the stairs and talked to someone in a long white coat with dark blue edge bands. The person slowly went down the stairs and approached Xander. "Why did that other guy leave?" Xander asked as the person in the white coat stepped into the arena. Xander couldn't see who the person was, because he had a scarf covering his face completely, only leaving the eyes visible, but his long light-brown hair made him look somewhat strangely familiar.

"Although I'm not a teacher at the Academy, I will serve as proctor for just this single duel" the person said. "Are you ready?" He placed his deck in his Duel-Disk and turned it on.

"Of course I am" Xander replied and turned on his own Duel-Disk as well. "Let's duel!"

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/Xander - - - - - - - -Proctor/

/4000 LP- - - - - - - 4000 LP/

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"Alright. You go first" the proctor said. "Make your move."

"Fine!" Xander replied and both duelists drew the first five cards. "I draw." He pulled the top card off his deck and placed it in his left hand, among the other five cards. "And I'll start off, by placing a face-down card and summoning my 'Radiant Drake' (1600/1000) to the field in Attack Position!" The large white dragon with white orbs on its shoulders and hips appeared in front of Xander, hovering about half a meter above ground. "That's it."

"Not bad, but not good enough either" the proctor said. "It's my turn, so I draw!" The proctor drew the first card on his deck. "And I set two face-downs and a monster in defense mode." The three cards appeared in front of the proctor. "That's all for now."

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/Xander - - - - - - - -Proctor/

/4000 LP- - - - - - - 4000 LP/

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"Alright" Xander replied quickly. "I draw!" He picked the card on top of his deck and looked at it for a short moment. Then he placed it among his other cards in his left hand. "I'll show you what I've got. I summon my 'Bolt Drake' (1400/1700) in Attack Position." As Xander placed the card on the Duel-Disk, the yellow dragon with wings made of pure electricity and two yellow orbs on its shoulders appeared on the field, right next to the white dragon. "Now for my Battle Phase. Radiant Drake! Attack that monster!" The white dragon fired a beam of pure light at the unknown monster. The monster was destroyed instantly.

"Ha. Thanks for destroying my monster" the proctor said. "Due to it's effect, whenever it is destroyed in battle, I'm allowed to draw three cards from my deck, but I'll have to discard any monster drawn by this effect." The proctor drew the three cards and looked at them for a short moment, after which he just discarded all of them.

"Heh, looks like you couldn't keep the three cards" Xander exclaimed. "That's just great for me."

"What would you do if I told you that I have a plan?" the proctor asked.

"The only right thing to do" Xander answered. "Ruin everything so you have no chance of winning this duel."

"You're not going to ruin any plans" the proctor replied shortly. "At least not any of mine. I activate my face-down card, 'Return of the Dead'." The card flipped up, showing Xander the text and picture. "Now, let me ask you one thing. Are you familiar with the Trap Card 'Call of the Haunted'?"

"Uh, yeah" Xander replied. "It lets you Special Summon a monster from your own graveyard in Attack Position. But what does that have to do with this card?"

"More than you'd think" the proctor said. "You see, 'Return of the Dead' lets me do the same thing, only I'll have to discard a card as a cost. So I'll discard a card, to let you meet my 'Magical Beetle' (1000/1000)." A rather small bug appeared on the field in front of the proctor. "Now, are you going to attack me again?"

"Of course" Xander replied. "I don't know what you're planning, but I know that you seem strangely familiar. Not that it matters. Bolt Drake! Attack and destroy his beetle." The yellow dragon fired a stream of electric energy at the beetle, which was destroyed by the attack.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/Xander - - - - - - - -Proctor/

/4000 LP- - - - - - - 3600 LP/

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"Thanks again" the proctor said. "Now I can draw three cards and discard any monsters." He drew three cards, but once again, he just discarded them all. "Oh no. How dramatic. I couldn't keep any of my cards" the proctor said sarcastically.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever" Xander replied. "I'll place two face-down cards and that's it." The two cards appeared hovering above the ground.

"Fine then" the proctor said and drew a card. "I'll summon my 'Flying Kamakiri #1' (1400/900)." As the card was placed on the Duel-Disk, a giant dragonfly appeared in front of the proctor. "Now, Flying Kamakiri #1! Attack his Radiant Drake!" The large dragonfly flew towards the dragon, which fired a beam of pure light at the dragonfly, destroying it immediately. "Now, you might wonder why I would order my monster to attack a monster with higher Attack Points. But I'll tell you. When Flying Kamakiri #1 is destroyed, it allows me to Special Summon any Wind-monster with 1500 or less Attack Points. So I'll summon another Flying Kamakiri #1." A new insect appeared, where the other one had just been standing. "Now, Flying Kamakiri #1! Attack his Radiant Drake!" The large dragonfly flew towards the dragon, which fired a beam of pure light at the dragonfly, destroying it immediately, just like the first. "Now, I can Special Summon another Flying Kamakiri #1." Just like a moment ago, when the insect was destroyed, a new just came and took its place. "And my third Flying Kamakiri #1! Attack his Bolt Drake!" The giant dragonfly rushed towards Xander's dragon, which struck back, resulting in both monsters getting destroyed. "And since my Flying Kamakiri was destroyed, I can Special Summon my 'Insect Larvae' (200/100) in Attack Position." The small larva appeared on the floor in front of the proctor.

"You sacrificed three monsters and 400 Life Points for that?" Xander asked almost disappointed. "This is almost ridiculous. That monster ain't good for anything."

"Or is it?" the proctor replied. "I activate my Spell Card, 'Double Summon'. It simply lets me Normal Summon an additional time this turn."

"I don't think so" Xander said. "I'll activate my 'Magic Jammer' Trap Card. By discarding a single card in my hand, I can negate your Spell Card."

"So what?" the proctor replied. "Do you really think that's going to save you?" Xander wasn't completely sure, what the proctor meant, but he had a good idea, what it could be. "I'll activate my face-down card, 'Spell Recycle'."

"What?" Xander shouted in response. "I've never heard of that card before."

"That's because it's extremely rare" the proctor said.

"Then tell me, what that card does" Xander replied.

"Fine then" the proctor said. "I'll tell you. 'Spell Recycle' is, as the name indicates, a Spell Card that allows me to remove any Normal Spell or Quick-Play Spell in my Graveyard from play, in order to activate the effect of that card." The proctor looked through the cards in his Graveyard and picked one. "I choose 'Double Summon'" he said, showing the card to Xander. "By this cards effect, I can tribute my 'Insect Larvae' to summon a stronger insect. And 'Insect Larvae' lets me ignore the level of any Insect in my hand until the end of this turn by removing it from the game." The small larva started to glow brightly, almost blinding Xander as its shape changed. "I summon my 'Destruction Insectoid' (?/1000)!" As the bright light slowly began to grow dim, a gigantic insect had replaced the small larva.

"What? You order three monsters to go straight to the Graveyard and sacrifice a worm to summon a big locust?" Xander asked sceptically at the sight of the giant insect. "Talk about waste of monsters."

"Waste of monster, you say?" the proctor replied. "Let me tell you one thing. This monster gets 300 Attack Points for each insect in my graveyard. I have ten insects in my graveyard. And what is 10 times 300?"

"3000?" Xander shouted. "That giant locust has 3000 Attack Points? That's bad."

"Only for you"the proctor replied calmly. "Now, let me see if you can break through this."

"Fine" Xander said. "Then I guess you say that it's my turn."

"That's right" the proctor replied.

"Good. I draw!" Xander said loudly, as he drew a card. "And I summon my 'Icicle Drake' (1200/1000) in attack mode." As the card was placed on the Duel-Disk, a large light-blue dragon with small white orbs on its wings appeared in front of Xander. At the same time, the giant locust seemed to get weaker.

"What's happening to my 'Destruction Insectoid'?" the proctor asked in a voice, that made him sound scared. "What's causing it?"

"'Icicle Drake's' monster effect" Xander said calmly. "When summoned, 'Icicle Drake' reduces the attack and defense points by an opponent's monster by an amount equal to the monster's level times 100." Then he made a short break. "Your monster is level 8. That means that it loses 800 Attack and Defense Points."

"Not bad" the proctor replied. "Of course, your monster's effect only lasts until the end of this turn."

"I know. And that's too much if I'm going to defeat your monster right away" Xander said. "But there are a couple of cards that make up for that. For instance, the Continuous Trap Card, 'Draconic Rebirth', which I activate. It allows me to resurrect a Drake-monster from my Graveyard, for as long as this card remains on the field. I revive my Bolt Drake (1400/1700)." As the card flipped up, the card was revealed and Xander's white dragon reappeared on the field. "Then I activate my 'Polymerization' Spell Card, to fuse my Radiant Drake with my Bolt Drake, in order to summon my 'Lightning Drake' (2300/1400) in attack mode." The two dragons slowly merged together, creating a new, more powerful dragon. "Now, I have turned the tables to my advantage" Xander thought to himself. "Now, all I need to do is attack that locust to get rid of it." He waited for a moment, before he finally declared the attack. "Lightning Drake! Wipe out his locust!" he shouted, as the dragon fired a ray of pure electricity at the locust, electrocuting it right away. The proctor's Life Points also decreased.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/Xander - - - - - - - -Proctor/

/4000 LP- - - - - - - 3100 LP/

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"Hmpf" the proctor grunted. "Is that really all you've got?"

"Not really" Xander said. "Now, Lightning Drake's effect activates. If it destroys a monster of a higher level in battle, I can increase the Attack Points of another monster on the field, by 100 times the level of the destroyed monster until the end of this turn. My Lightning Drake is level 7. Your monster was level 8."

"That means that one of your monsters gain 800 extra Attack Points" the proctor replied. "But which one?"

"Well, since I still have my Icicle Drake, I think the extra Points should go there" Xander said quickly. "Now, Icicle Drake! Attack him directly!" As Xander declared the attack, the dragon opened its mouth and fired a large light-blue beam of energy at the proctor, who was covered by a smoke cloud, and his Life Points decreased again.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/Xander - - - - - - - -Proctor/

/4000 LP- - - - - - - 1100 LP/

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

As the smoke cloud subsided, Xander noticed that the proctor's white scarf had been blown away by the blast, revealing his identity.

"Well, guess my disguise wasn't so good after all" the proctor said smiling. "Then again, a scarf doesn't do much for hiding one's identity." Xander didn't know what to say. Instead, he just fell on his knees, as if he was about to give up. "What's the matter, Xander?" the proctor asked.

"I… I can't do this…" Xander said slowly. "I can't fight you… I have no chance against you."

"It's OK, Xander" the proctor replied. "There's nothing to worry about. As long as you just do your best, things will be alright." Xander lifted his head and looked towards the proctor. "I'm sure you'll make it into the Academy this year. You've already surpassed my expectations. Just don't think of me as a friend. That'll only be a problem when dueling."

"So, you're telling me not to hold back?" Xander asked as he got up. "Fine then. I won't treat you, as if we were friends, 'cause right now, you're the only thing standing in my way. Now make your move, Ben!"

"Fine" Ben said. "I draw a card." He looked at the card for a moment, then he placed it face-down in the Duel-Disk. "I end my turn."

"Alright" Xander replied and drew a card. "I just set a single face-down card and then, my Icicle Drake attacks!" The dragon fired a light-blue beam of energy at the unknown monster, but nothing happened.

"Too bad" Ben said. "My monster has 2000 Defense Points. That means you lose 800 of your Life Points."

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/Xander - - -Ben (Proctor)/

/3200 LP- - - - - - - 1100 LP/

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"Argh" Xander grunted. "That's not going to stop me. Lightning Drake! Attack that monster!" the giant dragon fired a bright yellow beam of energy at the monster, which was instantly incinerated. "After that, I end my turn."

"Good" Ben said. "I draw a card." He looked at it for a moment, after which he placed it on the Duel-Disk. "I summon my 'Flare Bug' (1800/1500) in Attack Mode." A large burning cockroach appeared in front of Ben, as the card was placed on the Duel-Disk. "Flare Bug! Attack his Icicle Drake!"

"Not that fast" Xander interrupted quickly. "I activate my Trap Card, 'Holy Barrier – Mirror Shield'."

"Hm, a Trap Card" Ben replied mumbling. "I didn't see that coming."

"Holy Barrier – Mirror Shield is a special Trap that can only be activated when I all my monsters have different Attributes" Xander said. "It negates a single attack and destroys all monsters on my opponent's side of the field."

"I activate the effect of a monster in my hand" Ben replied quickly. "By discarding 'Celestial Cocoon' (0/2000) I can negate the destruction of monsters, as long as they would be destroyed by a card effect. So that's what I do."

"That doesn't matter" Xander said. "I just wanted to buy a little time. Are you finished?"

"Yeah" Ben replied. "Your turn."

"Alright, I draw" Xander shouted, as he drew the next card from his Duel-Disk. He tilted the card slightly and gave a smug smile when he saw the card. On the other side of the field, Ben raised an eyebrow, a motion so small that Xander couldn't see it. He moved his arm and placed the card on the Duel-Disk. "Now I activate my second 'Polymerization' Spell Card. Only this time, I'll be fusing my 'Icicle Drake' on my field, with the 'Torrent Drake' in my hand, in order to Fusion Summon my 'Blizzard Drake' (2400/1800)!"

The 'Torrent Drake' from Xander's hand appeared on the field. The majestic drake that seemed to be made entirely of water roared and the ice coloured drake joined it. Then, a vortex appeared above them. Both drake's took flight, up into the vortex. It was hard to destinguish the two drakes, as they merged together. Suddenly, there was a bright flash, and a large drake stood before Xander. It's skin was transparent, yet shone with an ice-like beauty. The claws on the beast had the same colour as water, matching its penetrating eyes. "'Blizzard Drake's' effect activates."

"Huh?" Ben exclaimed silently.

"That's right" Xander said. "When my Blizzard Drake is summoned, I can Special Summon one monster used for the Fusion Summon in defense mode. I choose Torrent Drake." Xander looked through his Graveyard for a moment, to find the monster, and placed it on the Duel-Disk. A large, blue dragon appeared in front of Xander, right beside the giant, semi-transparent dragon. "Now, I use 'Torrent Drake's' effect." Xander said with a small smile on his lips. "When all my opponent's monsters are of a Level equal to or higher than Torrent Drake, I can deal damage, equal to 100 times the total level of all monsters on my opponents side of the field, to your Life Points. Your Flare Bug is level 4, just like my Torrent Drake. That means, that you lose 400 Life Points."

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/Xander - - -Ben (Proctor)/

/3200 LP- - - - - - - -700 LP/

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"Not bad" Ben replied. "But Torrent Drake can't attack the turn its effect is activated. Also, it's in Defense Position, so it wouldn't be able to anyway, but that's beside the point."

"I may not be able to attack with Torrent Drake, but I still have two other monsters" Xander said. "Blizzard Drake! Attack and destroy that Flare Bug!" The semi-transparent dragon fired a ray of cold, blue energy at the burning insect, which was destroyed immediately.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/Xander - - -Ben (Proctor)/

/3200 LP- - - - - - - - 100 LP/

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"Hmpf" Ben said. "Is that really all you've got?"

"No way" Xander replied. "I still have my last monster. Lightning Drake! Attack him directly!" The giant dragon fired a beam of pure electric energy at Ben, leaving only a smoke cloud. As shortly before the smoke subsided, the energy-beam was sent back at Xander. "ARGH!" he shouted as he got hit by his own attack. "What just happened?"

"I activated my Trap Card in the last second" Ben said. "It's an old Trap Card, known as 'Magic Cylinder'."

"Magic Cylinder?" Xander exclaimed. "That means, that I took the damage from the direct attack instead of you."

"Exactly" Ben said. "You lost 2300 Life Points. Not me."

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/Xander - - -Ben (Proctor)/

/900 LP- - - - - - - - - 100 LP/

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"I've got to pull myself together" Xander thought, as he ended his turn. "I've come this far. I can't lose now. I just can't. I've tried so hard to get to this point. If he can destroy my monsters, I'll lose the duel. If he can't, I win. There's no doubt about that."

"Now I draw" Ben said as he pulled a card out of the Duel-Disk. "I start out, by activating my Spell Card, 'Lightning Vortex'. By discarding one card from my hand, I can destroy all your face-up monsters." He took a card in his hand and placed it in the Graveyard slot in the Duel-Disk, as Xander's three monsters were all destroyed. "Then, I activate the effect of the card I discarded. When 'Reserve Insect' is discarded as a cost, it is automatically Special Summoned to the field. So say hello to my 'Reserve Insect' (700/1800) in Attack Mode." As the card was placed back on the Duel-Disk, a small insect appeared on the field. "Reserve Insect! Attack his Life Points directly!" The small insect ran towards Xander and bit him, reducing his Life Points.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/Xander - - -Ben (Proctor)/

/200 LP- - - - - - - - - 100 LP/

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"Oh no. This is bad" Xander thought to himself, as the Duel-Disk hit 200. "I guess I didn't notice it before, but this duel… It's almost like last year. And if I'm not wrong, I'll draw a monster with less than 2250 Defense Points. But I'll just have to wait and see."

"Your turn" Ben said after a moment.

"Alright" Xander replied and drew a card. He didn't want to see if he was right or not, but he looked at the card anyway. "I use 'Pot of Greed' to draw two new cards." Xander slowly picked the two cards from the top of his deck. For some reason, he didn't want the duel to end. As he saw the two cards, he felt like an inner ember suddenly burst into flame. "I set a monster in Defense Mode and a single face-down. That'll be it."

"This duel is over" Ben said. "I start off, by activating my 'Bug Replacement' Spell Card. It allows me to send an Insect-monster back to my deck, and Special Summon a new Insect-monster of the same Level, so by returning my 'Reserve Insect' to my deck, I can Special Summon 'Insect Knight' (1900/1000) in Attack Mode." The small insect was instantly replaced with a large grasshopper-looking monster. "Not that I am going to keep 'Insect Knight' on the field for too long. 'Cause now I tribute 'Insect Knight' to summon my 'Saber Beetle' (2400/600) in Attack Mode." The large grasshopper disappeared and a large beetle appeared where it had been.

"Let me ask you one question" Xander replied. "Why didn't you just tribute your 'Reserve Insect'?"

"Easy" Ben answered. "It simply can't be tributed if it's Special Summoned."

"Okay then" Xander said. "Continue then."

"Fine. Like I said, this duel is over" Ben replied. "Saber Beetle attacks your face-down monster." The large beetle ran towards Xander's monster and attacked, as Xander flipped his face-down card face-up. After a short moment, the huge beetle was stuck, trying to destroy Xander's monster. "What's that? Why ain't that monster destroyed yet?"

"Because of my Trap Card" Xander said in a serious voice. "'Draconic Blow' can only be activated when a monster attacks a Drake-monster on my side of the field. It reduces the attacking monster's Attack Points, by 100 times the Drake-monster you just attacked. My 'Stone Drake' (400/2100) is a Level 4 monster. In short, your monster loses 400 Attack Points, leaving it with only 2000 Points left. So you were right. The duel is over."

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/Xander - - -Ben (Proctor)/

/200 LP- - - - - - - - 0000 LP/

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

Meanwhile, three other guys stood on a balcony just above the Duel Arena, looking down at the duel. All of them were about the same age and height as Xander, but they all wore the uniforms of Duel Academy. One wore a yellow uniform, while the two other wore red ones.

"Hm. He's got better" the one in the yellow uniform said calmly, while sitting on the railing, as the duel ended, so Xander wouldn't be able to hear him. He wiped his blonde hair away from his pale, blue eyes, yet it fell back into place right away. "Perhaps even too good."

"Yeah, but at least he won" one of the guys in a red uniform replied satisfied with the result of the duel.

"He sure did" the other in a red uniform said, nodding softly. "I guess he's in, now."

"Guess so" the guy in the yellow uniform replied. "But that victory means very little, Rob."

"What do you mean, Nick?" Rob asked, staring curiously at Nick. "It means a lot to him."

"It wasn't Ben's own deck" Nick said. "He used one of the Examination Decks."

"It was well done anyway" the first boy in a red uniform replied. They all three looked down from the balcony, but it didn't seem that Xander had noticed them yet. Nick turned around and jumped down from the railing. Slowly, he stepped towards the center of the half-circular balcony. The two other guys stared at him for a moment, leaning towards the white-painted, wooden railing. "Do you really think we should stay up here, so he can't see us?"

"It's best for him" Nick said calmly. The two other boys stepped closer to him. "Let him get some room to breathe after finally making it through."

"What?" the first boy in a red uniform replied. "Don't you think we should congratulate him?"

"Of course" Nick said silently. "I'm just saying that we should wait a moment."

"Guess you're right" the first in the red uniform replied mumbling. Shortly hereafter, they all three left the main area, through the door they had used to get to the balcony. "I just still don't think we should keep him unaware that we watched him." Nick sighed and stopped.

"You're talking too much, Jake" he said, in a tone that made him sound more like he was angry, than he was annoyed, while holding his right hand to his head and wiped his blonde hair away from his eyes. "But if you two really think it's all that important, you can go. I, on the other hand, have something more important to take care of right now."

* * *

And now that you've read the chapter, feel free to give a review if you want to. It is not required, just optional.


	3. Return of Darkness

Well, here is the third chapter of The Holy Warriors. It picks up right after chapter two ended, so if you don't remember what happened in chapter 2, it might be a good idea to re-read it. Otherwise, here's a rough recap of the story so far:

Ch1: Xander failed at the Entrance Exams and decided to try again a year later. Next year, he was almost late, when he got stopped by a stranger named Raul, whom he beat in a dueled and saved another person's life.

Ch2: Xander and the young boy (Shane) hurry to the Entrance Exams, and only make it in time. Xander duels against a proctor, who is later revealed to be his old friend, Ben. Xander wins in the end.

And that's roughly what happened during the first two chapters. Now for the third, Return of Darkness.

**

* * *

Chapter 3:**

_Return of Darkness_

"So you were right. The duel is over." Xander last words still rung in his head. He couldn't believe what had just happened. Not only had he managed to make it through the Entrance Exams, at which he failed last year, but he had also managed to defeat one of his friends, a friend whom he had never beaten before. Xander sighed with relief as he fell down on his knees.

"Congratulations, Xander" Ben said as he turned off the Duel-Disk on his left arm and slowly stepped forward. "You deserved that victory."

"Thanks, Ben" Xander replied as he turned off his own Duel-Disk. "I guess that means I'm in now."

"That's right" Ben said. "You're now a student at Duel Academy."

"Great! That means I can be with you guys again" Xander replied eagerly. "Oh, forgot one thing." Then he turned towards Shane, who was standing just about 10 meters from Xander. "Hey, Shane! You owe me a sandwich!"

"Okay" Shane shouted back at him. "You'll get it once I'm done with this duel." All three of them then turned their attention to the duel, waiting for the proctor to make his move.

"Alright. I send these three monsters, 'Koumori Dragon' (LV4), 'Luster Dragon' (LV4) and 'Baby Dragon' (LV3) straight from my hand to the graveyard," the proctor said, as he showed the three cards to Shane. "That way, I can Special Summon my 'Montage Dragon'." As the card was placed on the Duel-Disk, a huge dragon with three separate heads with white foreheads and a large dark-purple wings appeared floating above the proctor and let out a loud roar. "And for its Attack Points, they're 300 times the total level of the monsters I discarded. In other words, it has 3300 Attack Points. Now, since you have absolutely no monsters on the field to protect you, I might as well finish you off. Better luck next year. Montage Dragon! Attack him directly!" As the proctor ordered the attack, the dragon fired three beams of energy towards Shane.

"That's what I was hoping for" Shane snickered. "I may not have monsters to protect me, but I do have my face-down cards. I activate my Trap Card, 'Negate Attack'. So now, your Battle Phase is over."

"Not bad" the proctor grunted, as he ended his turn.

"Hmm" Ben thought for a brief moment. "Not a bad duelist. He's slightly better than the average."

"Fine, then" Shane said and drew a card. "Great! I summon 'Reflect Bounder' in Attack Position." As Shane placed his card on the Duel-Disk, a large robot with mirrors on its torso and arms appeared in front of him. "Then, I activate my face-down card, 'Shadow Spell'. This card reduces the Attack Points of any monster on the field by 700, _and _it prevents that monster from attacking and changing battle position. And I equip it to your 'Montage Dragon'." As the card flipped up, long, dark chains appeared from out of nowhere and tied the dragon up.

"So what?" the proctor replied. "I activate my own Trap Card, 'Equip Shot'." First, it lets me take one card that's equipped to one of my monsters, and equip it to one of yours. So I'll let your 'Reflect Bounder' get your 'Shadow Spell'." As the proctor stopped talking, the chains that were holding the dragon in place set it free, and flew towards Shane's own monster and tied it up instead. "Then, after that, the two monsters that are affected by 'Equip Shot' will have to battle! Montage Dragon! Attack Reflect Bounder!"

"You see, that's exactly what I was hoping for" Shane said. "I hoped you attack it, because it triggers Reflect Bounder's effect." The dragon fired a beam of energy at Shane's monster, which reflected the attack right back at the proctor. "You see, when Reflect Bounder is attacked you lose Life Points equal to the amount of Attack Points your monster has" Shane explained shortly before the proctor was hit by his own attack. "So now, you lose 3300 Life Points."

"But…" the proctor exclaimed the moment the energy beam hit him. "That's impossible."

"Apparently not" Shane replied. "And since you're out of Life Points, I win."

"Alright!" Xander shouted, as Shane turned off his Duel-Disk. "You won."

"Yeah, ready to get something to eat?" Shane asked, as he stepped towards Xander and Ben.

"You don't need to ask me" Xander said. "I'm always ready to eat!"

"I'm not sure that I know what's most important to Xander. Dueling or eating, apparently" Ben thought to himself, as they went up the stairs leading from the Duel Arenas. As soon as they got up the stairs, they quickly found the cantina. As they entered the small cantina, a nice scent of warm food filled the air, as well as their nostrils. Xander immediately took off his moss-green jacket, which he had gotten 10 years ago from his father. They quickly found a table in a corner, where they decided to sit down. Xander hung his jacket on the chair before he sat down on it. After a short moment, Ben called one of the waitresses closer and ordered three sandwiches, one for each of them.

As the waitress went off to bring them their food, they started talking about the Academy. Xander asked Ben how it was living there, and Ben told him and Shane about the classes, living in the dorms, the homework and of course the countless duels. He was in the middle of an interesting tale, when suddenly two other teenagers made their way to the table. Both wore a yellow uniform, somewhat similar to the uniforms that Xander had noticed quite a lot of the people in the stadium wearing. They both had blonde hair, making them look almost like them were twins. The biggest difference between them was actually only the color of their eyes, which made it so small, it didn't even seem to exist. "Hey, guys" the taller one of them said as they reached the table. "How're you doing?"

"Fine" Ben simply replied. Xander turned around to see who it was, since he was facing the other way.

"Hey, guys" Xander said as he saw the two boys. "Great to see you."

"Hey Xander" the other boy said. "It's been quite a while, huh?"

"Yeah, Jake" Xander replied. "A year, to be more exact."

"So, I saw you win your duel in the Entrance Exam" Jake said. "Nice job."

"Uhm, Xander" Shane said in a low voice. "Who are those people? Some friends of yours?"

"Yeah. Let me introduce you to them" Xander replied. "You've already met Ben. And these two are Jake and Rob."

"Nice to meet you" Rob said in a pleasant tone. "And who might you be?"

"Oh, yeah" Shane replied. "I'm Shane Parker. I just met Xander just about 45 minutes ago."

"Here are your sandwiches" a waiter interfered, as he brought them the sandwiches on a metallic tray.

"Thank you" Ben replied and took the sandwiches from the tray and dropped some money on the tray. "Keep the change."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Xander asked. "LET'S EAT!"

"Is he always like that?" Shane asked Ben curiously.

"Not always" Ben answered quickly. "Only when it comes to food."

"Oh" Shane exclaimed.

--------

After eating their sandwiches, they decided to leave the stadium. As they left the cantina, Xander bumped directly into another person, who was just standing right outside lifelessly, though it seemed to Xander as if the person was waiting for someone.

"I'm sorry" Xander quickly apologized, hoping that the person would not get angry. Yet he didn't say anything, but stared down at the floor. "It won't happen again. I promise."

"Hmm. Why does this guy seem familiar?" Ben thought. Then the person lifted his head up and stared meanly at all of them. All of the boys, except Shane, suddenly recognized him.

"IT'S… DAX!" they shouted almost synchronously.

"Yeah, so what?" the person asked them. "You've got a problem, losers?"

"Who're you calling losers?" Ben asked back. "At least _we_ don't have to resort to cheating."

"Neither do any of my slaves" Dax replied. "My slaves and I just bypass the rules."

"Like he said" a voice said from above. "Cheating. You're a bunch of cheaters." Xander looked up to see who it was, and immediately recognized the person as being another of his friends.

"Who is this guy, anyway?" Shane asked Xander curiously.

"The guy up there? That's Nick" Xander said.

"I was talking abort Dax" Shane replied. "Apparently, he's not exactly your friend."

"That's right" Ben said. "Dax is the leader of a notorious gang named Team Wipeout."

"And you're our prime victims" Dax replied mockingly. "Not that I plan on wasting my time on you personally. That's what slaves are for."

"Slaves?" Xander yelled in an angry tone. "You're calling your teammates 'slaves'?"

"Yeah, so?" Dax said calmly, yet still mockingly at the same time. "What else should I call them? They mindlessly follow my every order!"

"How about 'friends'?" Jake quickly suggested.

"Shut up, pathetic kid" Dax said and went away. "I won't waste any more time on you losers."

"WHAT DID YOU CALL US?" Rob and Jake yelled at him synchronously, causing Dax to stop.

"Rob, Jake, please" Ben thought for himself. "Behave, for once in a while."

"I called you 'losers'" Dax said. "Because that's what you are. Nothing but a bunch of losers. Only one of you are actually worth dueling against. Ben, why haven't you joined my group yet? It's too bad if your skills should just go to waste."

"I won't join your group, no matter what" Ben replied. "Offer what you want, I'll stay with those that I trust."

"Suit yourself" Dax said and continued walking away. "I'm out of here."

"Well, now what?" Xander asked Ben, as Dax stepped out of the stadium.

"Let's get out of here" Ben replied and they went out. As they got out, they stepped aside from the door, so they wouldn't be blocking the path for anyone passing through.

"So… What's going to happen now?" Rob asked. "Any suggestions?"

"Yeah. Let's head back" Jake said.

"Back where?" Shane asked curiously.

"Back to our hideout" Ben said.

"Hey, can I come too?" Shane asked.

"Well, I can't see why you shouldn't be allowed to" Ben said. "Let's go."

--------

Later, same day, shortly after the sun had set, they decided to leave the hideout for now and head home. After just about 25 minutes of walking, Xander finally reached the door to his family's house. He was just about to unlock the door, as he suddenly heard a deep, omnious voice behind him.

"Are you ready?" the voice said. Xander turned around and saw what looked like a bulky person, but he was wearing a black cloak with the hood covering his head.

"Ready for what?" Xander asked.

"A duel" the voice answered. "Last time we met, you won. But I have yet to show you the true power of my deck."

"So it's you, Raul" Xander replied. "Well, if all you want is to show me the true power of your deck, then come on! Show me what you've got!" As he finished the sentence, he turned on the Duel-Disk on his left arm.

"Fine" Raul said and turned on his own Duel-Disk as well. "I'll show you. And this time, you'll be sacrificed to the Shadows."

"Whatever" Xander replied, as a soothing breeze gently blew through the empty streets, that seemed orange in the light of the setting sun. "Let's duel!"

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/Xander - - - - - - - - - -Raul/

/4000 LP- - - - - - - 4000 LP/

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"I'll go first" Raul said and both players drew their first five cards. Then Raul drew a sixth. He looked at it for a moment, before he placed it in his left hand. "I start off, by summoning 'Dark Blade' (1800/1500) in attack position." As Raul played his card, a knight in a dark armor appeared in front of him, with a longsword in each hand. "Then, I place three cards face-down and end my turn." As Raul ended his turn, the three cards appeared hovering 1 foot above the ground.

"Alright. I draw" Xander said loudly, as he pulled a card from his deck. "Hmm. I summon 'Dust Drake' (1800/1500) in Attack Position." As Xander placed the card on the Duel-Disk, a large brown dragon appeared in front of him. Its skin seemed as if it was made of rocks, yet still it was extremely flexible. "Then, I set two face-downs and that's it."

"Then I draw!" Raul replied and drew a card. Then, as he looked at it, he let a out a quick grunt. "First, I activate the spell card, 'Fairy Meteor Crush', an Equip Spell that lets the monster it is equipped to, deal damage to your Life Points even if your monsters are in Defense Position, and equip it to my 'Dark Blade'. Then, I tribute 'Dark Blade' to special summon my strongest monster." Slowly, the armoured knight was engulfed in a pitch-black cloud and mutated and transformed into a large demon, with four giant swords and two axes. As the mutation was completed, the dark cloud faded away, revealing the demon. "I summon my 'Pitch-Black Demon Knight' (2500/1300)."

"That monster again?" Xander replied. "Last time you didn't even get to use any of its effects, other than the one that makes its original Attack Points 700 higher than the tribute monster."

"But this time I will" Raul said and took a card from his graveyard and hid it under his cloak. "Once per turn, by removing a monster card in my Graveyard from play, my demon gains an Attack Point boost." Then he made a small break. "And the bonus to its Attack Points is equal to the original Attack Points of the removed monster. Since I removed my 'Dark Blade' from play, my demon knight gains 1800 extra points. Of course, that only lasts until I use another effect or until my second End Phase after activating the effect, unless I remove a card in my hand from play in my second Draw Phase before drawing."

"1800 extra points?" Xander thought for a very brief moment. "Then his monster has 4300 Attack Points. That's far more than my Dust Drake."

"Now, my Demon Knight! Attack his Dust Drake!" As Raul gave the order for the attack, the huge demon rushed forward and slashed the much smaller dragon to pieces. The demon continued straight forward, until it hit Xander with one of its axes.

"ARGH!" Xander grunted, as the axe hit him. For a brief moment, it felt like he was being chopped in half, except he wasn't. "What was that? It didn't feel like Solid Vision. Could it be? Is the monster actually real?"

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/Xander - - - - - - - - - -Raul/

/1500 LP- - - - - - - 4000 LP/

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"So… Do you still wish to see what power my demon possesses?" Raul asked. "The smartest thing for you to do, right now, would be to give up. Of course, you can't give up when you're playing a Shadow Game."

"A Shadow Game?" Xander asked, fighting to stay on both legs. "No matter what a Shadow Game is, it's a good thing… THAT I'M NOT SMART!"

"If you really wish to fight on, then so be it" Raul replied. "Make your move."

"Alright! I DRAW!" Xander said and drew his next card. "Great. I activate my Spell Card, 'Polymerization'…" Xander held the green card above his head, and activated it. "…to fuse together my 'Radiant Drake' in my hand, with the 'Bolt Drake' in my hand…" The two dragons appeared next to him, and slowly began merging together. "… to Fusion Summon, my 'Lightning Drake' (2300/1400)

"So what?" Raul asked. "Your dragon has nowhere near enough power to defeat my demon."

"That's right" Xander said. "But I've got some cards that can help a bit. And you've already seen one of them. I activate my 'Dragon's Den' Field Spell." As the card was placed in the special Field Spell slot on the Duel-Disk, a large rocky cavern seemed to rise from the ground, surrounding the duelists. "Now, if you remember, 'Dragon's Den' increases the Attack Power of all 'Drake'-monsters on the field by 500 Points, leaving my 'Lightning Drake' with 2800 Attack Points."

"Feeble" Raul replied. "Even with that minor boost, your monster is nowhere near strong enough to defeat my monster. You see, it keeps the effect I chose to activate active, until I activate another of its effects."

"WHAT?" Xander exclaimed. "So your monster is still at 4300 Attack Points?"

"That's right" Raul replied. "And there's nothing you can do about it."

"Then I guess I'll have to end my turn" Xander said, ending his turn.

"Then it's my turn. I draw" Raul replied and drew a card. He looked at the card for a moment, before he placed it in his left hand. "My 'Pitch-Black Demon Knight' attacks your 'Lightning Drake'." The large demon rushed toward Xander's dragon, preparing to cut it to pieces.

"I activate the Trap Card, 'Draconic Blow'" Xander said loudly. "It is a trap that can only be activated, when a 'Drake'-monster on my side of the field is attacked. It reduces the Attack Points of one of your monsters, by 100 times the level of the monster you attacked. And since my 'Lightning Drake' is level 7, your monster loses 700 Attack Points." The demon attacked the dragon, destroying it without any effort, and continued through, until it hit Xander again.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/Xander - - - - - - - - - -Raul/

/0700 LP- - - - - - - 4000 LP/

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"You don't stand a chance against me" Raul said. "Now make your move. It's going to be your last."

"Alright. I draw!" Xander replied and drew a card form his deck. "And I activate my Spell Card, 'Pot of Greed'. In short, I get to draw two new cards." Xander drew the two cards and looked at them for a moment. Then he continued. "Next, I activate my Spell Card, 'Dragon's Mirror'. Now, by removing from play cards on the field on in my graveyard, I can Fusion Summon a Fusion Monster that requires the removed monsters as Fusion Materials. I remove my 'Radiant Drake' in my graveyard and my 'Bolt Drake' in my graveyard from play." As the card was activated, two beams of light flew from the Duel-Disk's Graveyard slot onto the field, and a large, white dragon, about twice Xander's size in length, appeared roaring to the right of him, and a just as big, yellow dragon appeared roaring to the left of him. Then, the two dragons flew fast into the open sky above them, and disappeared in a glimpse of light, which illuminated the otherwise some-what dark sky above them. "…to Fusion Summon my 'Lightning Drake' (2300/1400)!" After a short moment, a gigantic golden dragon came down from where the glimpse had been, and landed on the ground, right beside Xander. Had it not been a hologram, it would have made such an impact, that the ground would shake and houses would collapse.

"And here I was, believing I had got rid of it" Raul mumbled.

"Next, I activate my other Spell Card, 'Dimensional Overload'" Xander said and placed the card on the Duel-Disk. "Now, I pay 500 Life Points, in exchange for getting one of my monsters that has been removed from play back to the field for a single turn."

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/Xander - - - - - - - - - -Raul/

/0200 LP- - - - - - - 4000 LP/

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"So he removed his cards to proceed with his plan" Raul thought, as Xander's Life Points dropped to a mere 200. "Not bad. Of course, it takes a lot of luck to draw exactly those two cards when a duelist needs them most."

"And now that I've paid the Life Points, I'll Special Summon my 'Bolt Drake' (1400/1700) to the field" Xander said. "Now, let me ask you a question. Do you remember my 'Bolt Drake's Effect?"

"What does it matter?" Raul asked. "That little dragon can't do anything to stop my demon knight." Then he made a small pause. Suddenly, his face lit up with anguish, as he remembered the dragon's effect. "OH NO!" he exclaimed quickly, with a bit of despair in his voice.

"Oh yes" Xander replied. "Whenever my 'Bolt Drake' attacks a monster of a higher level, that monster is forced into Defense Position, and it loses Defense Points equal to 100 times its level."

"That means…" Raul said, still with despair in his voice.

"That your demon is as good as gone" Xander continued. "'Bolt Drake'! Attack that 'Pitch-Black Demon Knight'!" As the order was given, the dragon fired a bolt of electric energy at the huge demon in front of it. The electricity immediately caused the demon to change its battle position. Then, the dragon fired a powerful pulse of energy through the bolt of electricity, annihilating the demon instantly. "Next, we have 'Lightning Drake'. 'Lightning Drake'! Attack Raul directly!" the large light-yellow dragon flew up close to him and charged a powerful blast in its mouth. As it was done charging, it blasted Raul with a huge amount of energy.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/Xander - - - - - - - - - -Raul/

/0200 LP- - - - - - - 1200 LP/

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"ARGH!" Raul screamed, as the blast hit him.

"Well, it's too bad that I can't finish you off in this turn, so I'll have to wait a moment" Xander said. "I end my turn."

"I draw" Raul replied panting, trying to stand on his feet, but it felt to him like his legs could collapse any second. He thought about his situation for a short moment, but he just couldn't focus on it. Normally, he didn't let his feelings show, nor did he normally rely on luck, yet for the first time in a long time, he actually had to admit, that he needed a bit of luck to draw the right card. Anything else, he would lose. He slowly drew a card from his deck and looked at it. Then he placed it horizontally face-down on the Duel-Disk. "I set a monster in Defense Position. That's all."

"Then I draw!" Xander shouted and drew a card from his deck. "And I summon my 'Flame Drake' (1900/100) in attack mode." As Xander placed the card on the field, a red dragon appeared in front of him, hovering just above the ground. "And thanks to my Field Spell, its gains an additional 500 Attack Points. 'Lightning Drake' attacks your face-down monster!" As Xander finished his order, the large light-yellow dragon blasted the unknown monster to pieces.

"The monster you just destroyed was my 'Twin-Shield Defender' (700/1600)" Raul said and held the card up, so Xander could see it. "Whenever it is destroyed by battle, I can halve the current Attack Points of any of your monsters. I halve your 'Flame Drake's Attack Points."

"But that's not gonna help you" Xander replied. "'Flame Drake'! Attack Raul directly." The red dragon's skin suddenly turned a more orange hue, and the dragon fired a stream of fire at Raul, whose Life Points dropped to 0 immediately.

Both players turned off their Duel-Disks, and Raul tried to get up, but he couldn't. Slowly, Xander stepped closer, offering Raul to help him get up, but the offer was declined. After a lot of struggling, Raul finally got up. He didn't say anything. "He's good" Raul thought to himself as he slowly walked away. "But he only seems to duel like he means it, if his life is at stake. That's something that'll have to be changed." As Raul walked down the long road, he suddenly heard someone call for him from a small alley between two houses. He looked down into the alley and saw three other robed figures, all wearing robes identical to his own. Slowly, Raul went into the alley.

"Is he the one we need?" one of the robed men asked Raul. "Is that boy the duelist we are searching for?"

"Yes" Raul answered. "But apparently he can't duel like he means it, unless his life is in danger."

"That doesn't matter" another robed man replied. "No matter how good he is, his life will be in danger once we send our master against him."

"Before that happens, I'd like to duel against him to see how good he is for myself" a third said. "And I've got an advantage. I can quickly learn about each of his cards. All I need is to ask him politely."

"Do you know that boy?" Raul asked.

"Who? Xander?" the third of the robed men asked. "I'll leave that question unanswered…"

* * *

So, now that you've read the chapter, feel free to theorize about who the "third of the robed men" is. I already know, but I'm not going to tell you. That would not be nearly as fun as letting his identity lie on a shelf until later in the story.

Also, I somehow felt it was necessary to let the chapter end this way. Otherwise, the plot wouldn't thicken as much, nor did I like the other idea I had for the ending.

Furthermore, did you notice how Raul slowly became the person in focus instead of Xander? The reason it happened: PLOT DEVICE!

I hope you'll be reading on, once the next chapter comes up.


	4. A Duel on the Way! Another Agent?

Well, here is the fourth Chapter of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX: The Holy Warriors. Personally, I think the Chapter is good enough, but please let me know your opinion.

**

* * *

Chapter 4:**

_A Duel on the Way! Another Agent?  
_

After the duel against Raul, Xander found the keys to his family's house from his pocket. He fumbled with the keys for a moment, only because the duel had cost him most of his energy. He finally got the door unlocked, stumbled through it and closed it. Then he entered the living room and fell down on the black couch there. After a moment, everything became nothing but a blur to him, and the next moment, he was fast asleep.

Next morning, Xander woke up early, lying on the floor in the living room. He was still quite sleepy, yet managed to get up. Slowly, he went into his own room, and got changed, before breakfast was ready. He quickly got changed and after a moment, he stood in the kitchen, fully dressed, ready to go to Duel Academy. He sat down on one of the wooden stairs, and waited for his mother to finish the breakfast. At first, Xander didn't think she had noticed him, until she suddenly said "good morning."

"Good morning" Xander yawned. His mother turned around and carried a small basket of toasted bread and placed it on the table. "Guess this will be the last time in a while that I'll be eating breakfast here for a while." At first his mother stood still, as if she was shocked by Xander's words. Then she suddenly began moving again.

"Are you really saying that you made it through the Exams?" she said with a bit of joy in her tone of voice. "You finally made it?"

"I only had to try twice" Xander replied. "It's not all _that _much amazing." He looked at the black clock on the wall. He could clearly see what time it was, thanks to the white numbers on the display. "Well, only two hours left until the ferry leaves. Better get some breakfast rather fast, if I'm going to be there on time."

"Have you made sure you have everything you'll need?" his mother asked him kindly.

"Well, I've got my Duel-Disk, my cards, my money" Xander said. "Some clothes, my watch… I don't think I've forgotten anything."

"Good" his mother replied. She sat down by the table, and they started eating.

-----

After they were done eating, Xander grabbed his bag, in which he had what he needed. He opened it and looked in it one last time before leaving, to make sure he had everything. "Good" he thought and closed the bag again. "Everything's there." He placed it on a chair and grabbed his old moss-green jacket and put it on. Then he turned around. "Goodbye, mom" he shouted. "I'll be leaving now."

"Goodbye" he heard her shout back. "Feel free to come home during the vacations."

"Sure" he said loudly, grabbed his bag and left the house. He hurried down to the bus stop, which was just about half a mile from his home. After a couple of minutes, he stood at the bus stop, waiting for the bus, which was supposed to be there a few minutes later. A short moment later, the bus stopped right beside him and he got on. He quickly found a seat in the back of the bus, and sat down and waited for it to reach the docks. Relaxed, Xander let out a sigh. He knew he could relax now. Now he just had to wait.

-----

After an hour, the bus stopped at the docks. Xander got out and stepped down on the hard ground. He looked around for a moment, trying to find the ferry to Duel Academy.

"Hey, Xander. Over here!" Xander suddenly heard someone shout. He looked around to find out where the person that had just called him was. After a moment he saw his friends standing by a large, white ship. He hurried over to them right away. "We were just about to get on without you."

"You wouldn't do that" Xander said.

"Probably not" Ben replied. "Now, let's get on. I'm sure I can get us some good cabins."

"How?" Shane asked curiously.

"Easy" Ben answered. "As a Pro League Duelist, I have some privileges. Or at least I have the right to demand the best possible rooms."

"So that's your plan?" Shane replied. "You plan on asking them for the best cabins?"

"Yep" Ben said, full of confidence that his plan would work out. They began to board the ferry, as the doors slowly opened. They weren't the first to board it, yet still they were among the first half. "Hey, you. Are there any Pro-cabins?"

"I'm sorry mister" the conductor said. "This ferry has not been designed to have any special cabins at all."

"Well, Ben. I guess that means your plan didn't work out after all" Xander commented, as he went by, entering a large room, almost half the size of the stadium where the Entrance Exams had taken place. "Now, let's find a place to sit."

"Hah!" they suddenly heard someone exclaim. "So now, the losers are all gathered. Not that I care. It's more fun to take on more opponents. Just a shame that it doesn't count in your case, since none of you would ever be able to hope to defeat any of my slaves."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" Jake yelled and ran towards the person, pressing him against the wall with no way to escape. "TELL ME, DAX! WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?"

"Let go of me" Dax said and pushed Jake away without any trouble. "You'll never be able to defeat me in a duel. Especially if you keep on being so aggressive."

"Dax" Ben mumbled. "Why do you hold a grudge against us? What have we done against you? Could it really be? Is it because we actually saved your life once. Is that why?"

"It's none of your business" Dax said as he turned around and started walking away. "I'm through with you, and next time we meet, you'll be unconscious."

"I still don't understand why you hate us" Ben mumbled to himself, watching as Dax stepped away. "Please… Let us know. You don't have to be lost in your own past. We can help you."

"So, when are we leaving?" Xander asked curiously. It seemed like all the students that had made it through the Entrance Exams had gotten on board the ferry. "I mean, everyone's here and all."

"_Five minutes left until departure_" someone said on the speakers that were hidden in the ceiling. "_We repeat. Five minutes left until departure._"

"You just got your answer" Shane answered. "Does anyone know how long it takes for the ferry to get to the island?"

"Last year it took just about 24 hours" Ben said.

"24 HOURS?" Shane yelled.

"Yeah" Ben said calmly. "Without any trouble on the way." Surprised by Ben's reply, Shane felt like he was about to faint. They waited patiently for the ferry to depart. After the five minutes had passed, they could slowly begin to feel the ferry move through the water. Then, it began to move a bit faster, and after just a minute, the ferry had completely left the harbor. The ferry maintained its speed, only with very small changes in velocity. Everything was peaceful on the ferry, everyone was happy, and duels were everywhere. This continued all the time, even throughout the night. As the night began to turn into morning again, Xander suddenly noticed a person standing on top of the ferry's deck, wearing a robe identical to Raul's.

"I wonder what he is doing here" Xander thought and stood up from the chair, on which he had sat the entire night, and went over to where the robed person stood. After standing in front of him for a moment, Xander began talking to the person. "What are you doing here, Raul?"

"Raul?" the robed person replied. "So, you've met him."

"Yeah, and I defeated you both times" Xander said. "Now get off this ferry."

"What gives you the right to say that?" the person replied. "I don't even want to cause trouble. I just want to duel against some duelist that defeated Raul yesterday evening."

"That's me" Xander said. "And if you're not Raul, then what's your name?"

"My name?" the robed person replied. "I cast away my name a long time ago."

"You can't just do that" Xander said. "Everyone's got a name. So tell me. What is your name?"

"I already told you" the robed person replied. "I don't have one. But if it really is so necessary, you can just call me Sigma."

"Sigma?" Xander mumbled, as he heard the robed person's words. "What kind of name is that?"

"Now… I wanted a duel against the duelist who defeated Raul yesterday evening. You said that was you" Sigma said. "Prepare to duel."

"Fine then" Xander said and turned on his Duel-Disk. "Let's duel."

"Very well" Sigma replied and took off the dark robe he was wearing. "It's not easy to duel in those robes."

"Hey, Xander! What's going on?" Ben asked behind him. Xander hadn't noticed that his friends had followed him.

"Nothing, except I'm going to duel against this guy" Xander said and looked at his opponent, who had just turned on his own Duel-Disk. For strange reasons, that Xander didn't care about, Sigma seemed to wear some kind of strange mask.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/Xander - - - - - - - - -Sigma/

/4000 LP- - - - - - - 4000 LP/

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"Let the duel begin" Sigma replied. Both players drew the first five cards, but neither of them looked at them yet. "I'll let you decide who goes first."

"Fine" Xander said. "I think you should go first." Then, at the same time, both duelists looked at their cards.

"Very well" Sigma replied and drew another card. "I'll see for myself how good a duelist you are. I summon my 'Pyramid Turtle' (1200/1400) in attack mode, and place two cards face-down." As the cards were placed on the Duel-Disk, a large turtle with a pyramid on the back appeared in front of Sigma and two cards appeared hovering 1 foot above ground. "That is it."

"OK, then I draw" Xander said and drew a card. "Looks like your turtle is as good as gone. I summon my 'Flame Drake' (1900/100) in attack mode." As the card was placed on the Duel-Disk, a large, red dragon appeared in front of Xander, veiled in haze from the heat emanating from its body. "'Flame Drake'! Attack his Pyramid Turtle." The large, red dragon fired a stream of flames at the turtle, which was destroyed immediately.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/Xander - - - - - - - - -Sigma/

/4000 LP- - - - - - - 3300 LP/

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"Fool" Sigma said snickering. "To believe that you went right into my trap."

"His trap?" Xander thought to himself.

"Xander, didn't you know?" Ben asked. "Whenever 'Pyramid Turtle' is destroyed in battle, the controller gets to special summon a Zombie-type monster with 2000 or less Defense Points from the deck. It's an obvious trap."

"Now, prepare to meet my strongest monster" Sigma said. "I special summon my 'Undead Dark Knight' (3000/1500) in attack mode." As the card was placed on the Duel-Disk, a knight in a completely black armor appeared in front of Sigma. The knight's flesh was nearly corroded away, only some lumps of it hang out of the armor. "Thanks for letting me get my strongest monster out. Now, prepare to feel it's Summoning Effect."

"Summoning Effect?" Xander thought. "What's that?"

"Whenever my 'Undead Dark Knight' is Special Summoned to the field, I get to Special Summon a single monster from my hand. However, if the monster I want to Special Summon is higher than level 4, I must remove cards from my hand equal to the number of monsters I should tribute to Tribute Summon the monster. I remove these two cards" Sigma said, and took two cards from his hand and put them in his back pocket. "That way, I can Special Summon my 'Despair from the Dark' (2800/3000)." As the card was placed on the Duel-Disk, a large, crimson shadow came up from the ground and stretched out its claws.

"Well, this ain't good" Xander thought for a moment. Then he took three cards from his hand and placed them all on the Duel-Disk. "I place three face-downs and end my turn."

"Fine, then. I draw" Sigma replied and drew a card from the Duel-Disk. He looked at Xander's three face-down cards for a moment. "Hm. He's got three face-down cards. Chances are, that when I attack, at least one of his face-downs will be triggered. Another possibility is, that he's just bluffing, but I don't think this boy would bluff in this situation. His monster is easily wiped out, and after that, he will be defenseless, unless he's planning something. No, he's got to have a trap ready" he thought, pondering his next move. "On the other side, I've got two face-down cards to protect myself."

"Are you going to make your move or what?" Xander asked impatiently.

"I end my turn" Sigma answered, surprising not only Xander, but also all his friends, who were watching from the sideline, except Ben.

"Why would he end his turn?" Jake asked. "He's got the strongest monsters. He could easily have destroyed Xander's dragon."

"This guy is not just dueling" Ben answered. "He's trying to make Xander make the second attack, as well as he made Xander make the first attack."

"Nice guess" Sigma replied. "You guessed it right. I did make your friend make the first attack, so I could get my strongest monster out right away. When I summoned Pyramid Turtle in attack mode, I literally asked him to attack."

"Not a bad strategy, I must admit" Ben commented. "I'm looking forward to seeing the reason why you only drew a card and ended your turn."

"Hey, whose side are you on?" Xander shouted at Ben. "You're supposed to be on my side, not his!"

"I'm not on anyone's side" Ben replied calmly. "I'm just studying his strategy, in case I ever get to duel against this guy. He seems like he could make quite a career in the Pro League. Just a shame that he's cast away his identity."

"That's it! I'm done listening to your words of advice" Xander said and turned his attention back to the duel. "I draw. Then, I summon my 'Rock Drake' (400/2100) in attack mode." A large, grey dragon appeared in front of Xander, as he placed the card on the Duel-Disk. It's skin was a dark shade of grey, and was covered with spikes, both big and small, making it look like it was made of rocks. It landed on the floor right beside Xander, and let out a loud roar.

"So what?" Sigma replied. "You try to defend yourself with a bunch of rocks? What would you hope to achieve with that?"

"Nothing yet, but just wait" Xander said with a small smile on his face. "'Cause now, I activate my Field Spell Card, 'Dragon's Den'." As Xander activated the card, large rocks came up from the floor, and created a large mountain cavern around them. "While 'Dragon's Den' is active, all 'Drake'-monster gain an additional 500 Attack Points. That leaves my 'Flame Drake' with 2400 Attack Points, and my 'Rock Drake' with 600 Attack Points. Now, to get rid of that 'Despair from the Dark'. 'Flame Drake'! Attack 'Despair from the Dark'!" The large, red dragon opened its mouth and a small, flaming sphere appeared in the mouth and began to grow slowly, until it was so big, that it couldn't be in the dragon's mouth, and the red dragon fired it straight at the red spirit.

"Not that fast" Sigma said. "First off, my monster has more Attack Points. Secondly, I activate my Trap Card, 'Shadow Spell'." The card flipped around, and long black chains flew out towards the red dragon, tying it up. "Now, as long as my trap is active, your monster is as good as useless. You can't use it to attack. It can't be switched into defense mode, and it has its Attack Points decreased by 700. Aside from that, your attack is negated."

"Useless?" Xander thought for a moment. "My monster is not useless. And I'll prove that to him." With his left arm, he ripped a card from his right hand and held it above his head. "DON'T CALL MY MONSTER USELESS!" he shouted and smacked it against the Duel-Disk. "I activate my Quick-Play Spell Card, 'Flaming Dragon Fury'! With this card, I can destroy all cards equipped to a Fire-attribute 'Drake'-monster, and let that monster attack an extra time. 'Flame Drake'! Attack 'Despair from the Dark'!" The red dragon once again created a flaming sphere, and fired it at the monster.

"Have you already forgotten?" Ben asked him. "'Despair from the Dark' is too powerful. Your dragon doesn't have enough Attack Points."

"And you're calling yourself a Pro?" Xander replied. "You ought to know, that my Drake can easily destroy his monster."

"How?" Sigma asked. "Your monster is still too weak to stand a chance."

"Easy. 'Flame Drake' has got an effect" Xander answered. "Whenever my Drake attacks, the opponent's monster loses Attack and Defense Points equal to 100 times the attacked monster's level."

"So 'Despair from the Dark' loses a total of 800 Points" Sigma said. "That means it's down to 2000 Attack Points."

"Which is low enough for 'Flame Drake' to defeat it" Xander replied as the flaming sphere hit Sigma.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/Xander - - - - - - - - -Sigma/

/4000 LP- - - - - - - 2900 LP/

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"Ah" Sigma grunted as his monster was hit by the dragon's attack.

"I end my turn" Xander said.

"Hm. That Sigma guy seems to be a bit behind" Ben mumbled calmly.

"He he he…" Sigma snickered. "You just wasted your turn."

"What?" Xander exclaimed surprised. "What do you mean?"

"Easy" Sigma explained. "As long as I have my 'Undead Dark Knight' on the field, if you destroy any of my Zombies, I can just Special Summon them back to the field during the End Phase, by sending a card from the top of my deck out of play, for each monster I wish to bring back. So my 'Despair from the Dark' is back again." The large, crimson spirit re-appeared on the field, as frightening as before.

"WHA?" Xander yelled loudly. "It's back? And I just went through such a big amount of trouble to make it go away."

"Too bad. Now, it's my turn. I draw" Sigma said, and started to snicker when he saw which card he had drawn. "I activate my Spell Card, 'Zombie-feast'."

"That sounds bad" Xander replied.

"It is" Sigma said. "Now, for each of my Zombie-type monsters, I can destroy any card on your side of the field. And since I have two monsters, I can get rid of your two monsters."

"And I don't have a single trap on the field that can negate Spell Cards" Xander thought as Sigma explained the card's effect. "It looks like I've lost."

"Now, say goodnight to both of your dragons" Sigma said, and the zombies destroyed the two dragons. "Then, 'Despair from the Dark'! Attack him directly!" As the order was given, the large, crimson spirit stretched out its long arms and slashed Xander with its sharp claws.

"Not that fast" Xander shouted. "I activate my 'Magic Cylinder' Trap Card. Now, the attack is directed right back at yourself."

"ARGH!" Sigma screamed as his own monster attacked him. "But my second monster will hit you."

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/Xander - - - - - - - - -Sigma/

/4000 LP- - - - - - - - 100 LP/

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"Now, 'Undead Dark Knight'! Attack him directly!" The tall, rotten knight ran towards Xander and struck him with its large sword.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/Xander - - - - - - - - -Sigma/

/1000 LP- - - - - - - - 100 LP/

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"GARGH!" Xander screamed as the knight swung its large sword at him.

"How does it feel?" Sigma asked. "You've lost, you just don't know it yet."

"I HAVEN'T LOST YET!" Xander shouted. "As long as I have cards, I will keep on dueling."

"You don't realize how hopeless your situation is" Sigma said snickering.

"Truth be told, he's actually right" Xander thought for himself. "I have no monsters left on the field to defend me, no monsters in my hand, and almost no Life Points left. Even if I should be lucky to draw a monster, I can't use 'Polymerization' and 'Rock Drake' is the monster with the biggest chance of survival that I have left, which lies in the Graveyard. Things sure don't look too good right now."

"Give it up already" Sigma said. "Make your final move."

"Fine" Xander replied, full of uncertainty. He slowly moved his hand towards his deck, and placed it on the cards.

"Is he giving up?" Shane exclaimed.

"I give up…" Xander said.

"What?" Sigma replied surprised. "You give up?"

"Yes. I give up…" Xander said. "Against my will to fight no matter how bad it may seem for me!"

"Then make your move" Sigma replied.

"If you say so! I DRAW!" Xander shouted and pulled a card from the top of his deck. He glared at it through the corner of his eyes. "This card? I got this card right now?" he thought as he saw the card. "There's nothing I can use it for right now. I could use it in the beginning of this duel, but now, it seems useless. I might as well admit that this duel is over." He slowly placed the card in one of the thin slots just beneath the upper layer of the Duel-Disk, holding the card in place. A larger version of the card appeared face-down just about a foot above the floor. "I set a card face-down and end my turn" he said calmly, hoping to be able to bluff his opponent.

"Then it's my turn" Sigma said, and drew a card from the top of his Duel-Disk. "Hm. It seems you are the duelist Raul spoke of. I hope that we will meet again. 'Despair from the Dark', attack him directly." The large, red creature launched its grayish claws at Xander, grapping him and choked the last Life Points out of him.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/Xander - - - - - - - - -Sigma/

/0 LP- - - - - - - - - - - 100 LP/

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

Xander started screaming with pain, even though he knew the monsters only were holographic projections, until the Life Point-Counter the Duel-Disk reached 0, at which point, both Duel-Disks turned off. Both duelists turned around at the same time and stepped away from each other.

"Xander, I hope we'll meet again" Sigma said. "However, next time, I won't go so easy on you."

"Me neither, Sigma" Xander replied. "I won't let you win next time." He slowly turned around and faced Sigma, who already stood more than 10 meters away. "I have a feeling we'll meet again someday. And I'm looking forward to that day."

"I'm looking forward to our next duel as well" Sigma said. "And please, Xander, know that I am not like Raul. Raul would put his mission before his own will. I don't like the idea of sacrificing innocent people to our master. That's why I didn't even say anything about your life being in danger. I purely wished to have a great duel, but sadly, it didn't last so long."

"Well, in case you want a rematch, I'm on Duel Academy" Xander replied.

"Then we can easily arrange a duel anytime" Sigma said. "I too am a student at Duel Academy."

"Then how come we've never seen you duel on the Academy yet?" Ben asked. "None of us have ever seen anyone wearing a mask there."

"That question is beyond my ability to answer" Sigma answered.

"And how come you wear a mask in the first place?" Shane asked.

"That is because of a rule I once broke, even before I became an Agent" Sigma said. "It prevents me from having eye-contact with my opponent. Two years ago, when my master enlisted me, he gave me a part of his power, the power to sacrifice people's souls, and told me to sacrifice the soul of an innocent person, he just grabbed while walking by on the streets. However, the woman looked me into the eyes, and somehow softened me from the inside, causing me to defy my master's orders, so he did it himself, and gave me a choice."

"A choice?" Xander asked. "What kind of choice."

"Actually, it was more like an ultimatum" Sigma said. "Either, I could choose to get sacrificed along with the innocent woman, or I could live on by casting away my identity and living behind a mask as his servant."

"That's harsh" Xander replied. "Couldn't you just solve the matter through a duel?"

"We did" Sigma said. "Before the duel began, the stakes were settled. If I won, both I and the innocent woman would be free to live our lives in freedom. But if I lost, the woman's soul would be sacrificed and I would get the choice I talked about before. I hoped to be able to go free, so without thinking about the woman's feelings, I accepted the stakes and lost the duel."

"But how does the mask prevent you from getting eye-contact with anyone?" Shane asked.

"It doesn't exactly prevent eye-contact. What it really does is, that it sends out ultrasonic waves, whenever I get eye-contact with people" Sigma said. "And those waves are the problem. For some reasons, they turn into regular sound waves that can be heard by humans, once the ultrasonic waves get through the skull, causing a painful headache, and eventually, damages to the brain."

"And you can't just take the mask off?" Ben suggested.

"No" Sigma said. "It is a cursed mask, that cannot be taken off, unless the curse is broken."

"And how do you do that?" Xander asked.

"The curse can only be broken, if my master is killed" Sigma answered and left. "But no one has ever been close to him. Not even us Agents. I must leave you now. Good bye."

"Uh… bye" Xander said and turned around to face his friends again. "So… now what?"

"Now, we wait for the ferry to arrive" Ben answered. "And yes, I know it's still more than 14 hours, but we've got to be patient."

"SOMEONE TURN OFF THE LIGHTS!" They suddenly heard a male voice shout from somewhere aboard the ship. "IT'S TOO BRIGHT! I CAN'T STAND IT!"

"Wow, someone's in a bad mood" Jake commented. "Wonder what his problem is." Suddenly, the lights grew dim, yet still gave enough light for one to be able to see everything. Xander and his friends went back to the seats, where they had sat just before the duel against Sigma, and waited for the ferry to arrive at the Academy.

---

Next day, at 10AM, Xander and his friends were still waiting for the ferry to get to Duel Academy, which was clearly visible on the horizon, a large mountain rising in the east next to several buildings scattered all over the island, one bigger than the others.

"I guess the big building we can see must be Duel Academy" Xander said.

"That's right" Ben replied. "However, you won't be going there for the first month."

"What?" Xander said. "I'm not going to Duel Academy the first month?"

"Nope" Ben replied. "It's a rule. Every year, the freshmen will be divided into three groups. The Students of the Red Dorm, known as 'Slifers', the Students of the Yellow Dorm, known as 'Ras', and the Students of the Blue Dorm, known as 'Obelisks'. Depending on your efforts during the Entrance Exams, you will be placed in the appropriate Dorm, Red being the worst and Blue being the best. However, it's not enough for you to just have passed the Entrance Exams. If you didn't also show the skills to qualify, you will immediately be sent back home."

"And what did you mean, when you said that I won't be going to Duel Academy for the first month?" Xander asked curiously.

"Easy" Ben answered. "Depending on the Dorm you are placed in, there's a specific amount of time that must pass, before you will be going to the Academy. The Obelisks begin going there from the second day on the island. The Ras begin after a week, after having some time to train on their own, and finally, the Slifers begin after four weeks. However, those four months aren't vacation. They're meant as time for training your skills and getting help on improving your strategies. Then, once the four weeks run out, there will be a Slifer Tournament for freshmen, so they can show their headmaster how much they've improved, and only the best, not necessarily the winner, can become a Ra."

"So, with a bit luck, I end in the Yellow Dorm" Xander said. "Of course, I hope to end in the Blue Dorm."

"And what about you, Shane?" Ben asked. "Where do you hope to end?"

"Well, I hope to end in the Blue Dorm" Shane answered. "I did make it through the Entrance Exams without even attacking once, after all."

"Hm. Seems like your hopes are equally high" Ben said. "Well, we'll just have to see once we get there."

"Which is quite soon" Rob replied. "The ferry's docking now."

"Fine, just wait until everyone else has got off" Ben said. "Otherwise, it will be impossible to get out."

"You tell that guy that" Shane replied and pointed towards a young boy, about the same size and age as Xander and Shane, who was standing on the railing, without holding on to anything. His arms were crossed. As the ferry began to decrease speed, he jumped off and landed perfectly on the dock below. "Too late." As the boy landed on the dock, the guards there grabbed him, making sure he didn't go anywhere, but to no avail. The boy didn't even seem to resist the guards, until they both had him held tight. He swiftly made a backwards somersault, his arms slipping out of the guards' grasp, and landed behind them. Then he rushed at the guards and pushed them backwards into the cold saltwater. Slowly, the doors opened, and all the passengers onboard the ferry rushed out as fast as possible, not having seen what happened to the guards. Xander and his friends stepped out last, and found the boy still standing on the edge of the dock, with his back against Xander and his friends.

"Don't worry" the boy said. His dark hair waved in the gentle breeze. "I don't want to hurt you. Not unless you really wish to spend the first month here at the sickbay."

"What?" Xander asked. "Who said anything about hurting anyone?"

"No one" the boy said. "But next time you mess with my people, you'd wish you weren't born."

"Your people?" Xander replied.

"Yes. Raul has told me everything about your duels" the young boy said. "Now, scram or get hurt!" The boy slowly turned around and his eyes turned completely black, with a small bit of purple every now and then, and a purple aura appeared around him. "Know that my power is below 25% due to my Agents' lack of productivity lately…"

* * *

Who is this boy, who threw two guards in the water without any effort?

Which Dorm will Xander and Shane end in?

And why does Dax hate Xander and his friends?

All those questions (and if you have more questions, they too) will be answered later in the story. Now, please let me know what you think of the chapter (either through a PM or a review) if you want to. I don't care if you do or not, it will just help improving the story later on.


	5. Opening Duel Commence! Infinite Loop!

I know it's been some time, but here it finally is. Chapter 5 of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX: The Holy Warriors. Read on if you want to. I won't be giving a recap of the last four chapters.

**

* * *

Chapter 5:**

_Opening Duel Commence! Infinite Loop Engaged!_

The boy slowly turned around and his eyes turned completely black, with a small bit of purple every now and then, and a purple aura appeared around him. He reached his left hand out against Xander, clutching it, as if he tried to choke him.

"What's with that guy?" Xander mumbled calmly.

"Do you want to get hurt?" the boy asked Xander angrily, still holding out his hand. "If you don't want to get hurt, I suggest that you run away. Otherwise, I _will_ hurt you!"

"Fine, calm down" Xander said and he and his friends ran after all the other students, who were currently heading for the Academy.

"Say, if you say that we're not going to the Academy yet, how come we're heading there?" Shane asked as they tried to catch up with the rest. "I can't really make that make any sense."

"That's because the Chancellor is going to hold a speech first and then, you'll have to get your uniforms" Ben answered. "And after that, you will be shown the way to your dorms."

"And how long is there?" Shane asked.

"About three miles or five kilometers" Ben said. "I'm not completely sure, but it's just about that distance. It takes just about an hour to walk."

"An hour, eh?" Xander replied. "Sounds boring. Besides, I just came to think of something."

"Sounds scary" Jake commented.

"And what is that?" Ben asked.

"How come I didn't see Nick anywhere yesterday?" Xander asked. "I mean, I didn't see him at the Entrance Exams, nor after that, for all that matters."

"Well, he was there to see your duel" Rob said. "But after that, he just left. He said he had something more important to do, than say congratulations."

"That doesn't sound like Nick" Ben replied. "He's usually loyal towards his friends. What could suddenly make him change his mind?"

"Or his personality" Jake added.

"I don't know" Xander said and looked behind him. Then he stopped and wondered for a moment. "Uh, guys. Where did that creepy guy go?" The others turned around too and noticed that the boy had disappeared.

"He's probably just fallen into the water" Rob suggested. "It's his own fault, really. He was the one who stood that the edge of the pier."

"Why do you care?" a voice asked to the right of them. They all turned right and saw him standing between some trees, completely dry. "You don't even know what the T.E. is, nor is it any of your concern."

"Wait a minute" Xander said. "How on earth did you get up here faster than us?"

"That's none of your concern" the boy answered. "Now, get lost."

"Well, let's get going before this psycho begins with his threats again" Shane said to the others. "I don't like listening to him." They all began running after the other students at once, ignoring the boy. After a minute, they caught up with the students, and went behind them for the rest of the walk.

After an hour, they arrived outside the Academy. Suddenly, Xander noticed the boy standing in front of the doors, as if he was waiting for the other students to arrive.

"OK, that's it!" Xander shouted as he saw the boy. "I refuse to believe it! It's got to be an illusion!"

"It's not an illusion" the boy said. "I just got here faster than you."

"Whatever" Shane replied and he and the others went straight past the boy, through the doors. As they stepped inside, they entered a large hall. Next to the doors, there was a lot of tables with boxes on top and underneath. From where they stood, they could see a young, tall, slim person with pitch-black hair standing on a stage, surrounded by seat rows, just like at the Entrance Exams. Slowly, everyone found themselves a seat, and waited for a moment, before the man began to speak.

"Welcome to all of you, both new students and older ones. It is me a pleasure to be able to welcome all of you to Duel Academy. I am the Chancellor here at this academy, Chancellor Briar" the young person on the said. "I am glad to see that we this year have a much higher number of applicants, who made it through the Entrance Exams, than we have had the last years. Other than that, this year's average level for your dueling skills lies higher than last year. Now, I do not have so much to say, other than we have the honor of even having the leader of a science company here to join us for the next year to do some research, and as a student. So please welcome Mr. Malcolm Thorn."

"What?" the black-haired boy from the pier mumbled angrily behind Xander's back. "When did I ever agree on holding a speech?"

"Let's try again" the Chancellor said. "Mr. Thorn, please come down here."

"Whatever" Malcolm grunted and suddenly, he was engulfed in darkness and disappeared, just to reappear on the stage next to the Chancellor, scaring everyone but Xander and his friends a bit. "Let's get this over with."

"Do you have a speech for the occasion?" the Chancellor asked.

"No" Malcolm grunted.

"Yes you do" the Chancellor said. "You can't be the leader of a company and not hold a speech."

"Gah, fine" Malcolm replied angrily. "However, before that can happen, I want you to turn off the lights in here. It's too bright." Slowly, the lights began to grow dim. "Thank you. Now, since I'm forced to hold a speech, I might as well use this opportunity to set the rules straight. First off, no one, not even the Chancellor, may call me anything else than Malcolm or Malcolm Thorn. Secondly, if anyone of you, including the Chancellor, wants to talk with me, let me know during the breaks, so you don't disrupt my research. And finally, I have a few bodyguards on the island. If you need to see me, it is easiest and safest for you all to ask one of them nicely. If anyone breaks those rules, you _will_ suffer the consequences. That's all. Oh, and one last rule, no applauses." As Malcolm finished his speech, he got engulfed in darkness again and reappeared on his seat behind Xander.

"And unless anyone else has anything to say, you can get your school uniforms right beside the doors and then, you'll meet up outside" the Chancellor stated quickly, as everyone, except Malcolm, rose from their seats and headed straight for the doors. Xander and Shane hurried to get in line as fast as they could, but suddenly, a dark cloud appeared in front of them and disappeared again, leaving Malcolm standing in front of them. Quickly most of the students got their uniforms.

"WHAT?" Malcolm suddenly shouted. "I ORDERED HIM STRICTLY TO LET ME INTO THE RED DORM!"

"Calm down" the lady behind the table said. "I'm sure it's just a mistake."

"You'd better hope so" Malcolm replied angrily. "Otherwise, he won't be the Chancellor here for so long."

"Just wait a minute and I'll contact the chancellor" the lady said and left. A moment later, she returned again with a red jacket in her hands. "I'm terribly sorry. It's just a mistake. Here's your uniform." Malcolm took the red jacket and went out the doors.

"Wow. He sure has an ill temper" Xander thought for a moment and stepped up to the tables.

"What's your name?" the lady asked.

"Alexander Barkley" Xander answered quickly.

"Ok, let me see" the lady said and looked through a list to find his name on the list. "There you are. You're in the red dorm." The lady looked through the boxes under the table and pulled a red jacket from one of them. "Here you go."

"Thanks" Xander replied smiling and took the red jacket.

"Shane Parker" Shane said as he stepped up to the table, just as Xander went a bit away.

"Just a moment" the lady replied and looked through the list once again. "You're in the red dorm." She pulled a red jacket from one of the boxes under the table and handed it over.

"Thanks" Shane said and stepped away from the table.

"So, the Chancellor said something about meeting outside" Xander said. "So why don't we just see if we can find out where the other so-called Slifers are?"

"Uh, sure" Shane replied, after which both of them turned towards the doors and went through. As they passed through, they saw a small group of other students with similar red jackets. "What? No more? Just us and ten others?"

"Well, the Chancellor _did_ say, that the average level was above last year's" They heard Ben say from behind them. "And last year, there were only 15 new students to the Red Dorm."

"And the year before that?" Xander asked curiously.

"None" Ben answered. "That leaves a total of 27 students in the Red Dorm, which was originally built to house up to 150 students."

"Great!" Xander immediately exclaimed. "That means we'll have a room for ourselves."

"If it hadn't been for the cold nights" Ben replied.

"Huh?" Shane exclaimed.

"There have been some complaints about the heating system in the Red Dorm" Ben replied. "At least that's what I've heard."

"Hah" Shane exclaimed quickly. "As if some cold is going to be a problem. I'm more than used to that."

"How come?" Xander asked curiously.

"Well, you see, I'm just used to sleeping in cold places" Shane answered.

"So, what's your reason for coming here?" Ben asked.

"Truth be told, none actually" Shane said. "Except to improve my dueling skills."

"Ah" Ben replied. "How about you, Xander? What's your goal?"

"Hm, glad you asked" Xander said smiling and held his right fist straight into the air, the left arm bent a bit. "I may not be a formidable duelist, but I won't leave this Island until there aren't any students that I haven't defeated. Mark my words! I'M GONNA BE THE NEXT KING OF GAMES!"

"Dream on, Xander" Ben replied and went past him, clapping him on the shoulder on the way. "You'll never be anything if you're late for the bus to the Red Dorm." Xander quickly turned around and noticed that all the other students with red uniforms had stepped into a large, yellow bus. He hurried to get in before it left, Shane following him quickly. They quickly found a seat each and waited for the bus to stop at the dormitory.

---

After a while, the bus stopped outside a wooden building with yellow walls and red roof. The doors had the same red color as the roof. A steel ladder went from a balcony outside the upper floor down to the ground. As soon as the bus stopped, the students got out, followed by an older man with brown hair and glasses.

"So, which door is the right one?" Xander asked, as he noticed that the building in front of him had more than 50 doors, 25 on the ground floor, 25 on first floor.

"I don't know" Shane said puzzled at the sight. "Who knows, maybe they lead to different rooms."

"That's correct" the older man replied friendly. "Each of these doors lead to one room. Of course, there are not any difference between the rooms, only the students living there. Now, wait a moment while the rest get out."

"Okay, then" Xander said, waiting for everyone to come out of the bus. "So which one do we pick?"

"I have no idea" Shane replied. "Does it even matter? There can't be much difference between the rooms anyway."

"Fine, then" Xander said and went over to one of the doors on the ground floor. "Let's pick this one." He slowly opened the door and looked inside the room. "You coming, Shane?"

"Yeah, right behind you" Shane replied. Then he suddenly felt a person's hand grab his shoulder.

"Your name is Shane Parker, right?" the person asked him and Shane turned around and noticed a tall, slim man with black hair and glasses.

"Uh, that's right" Shane said. "Who are you and what do you want?"

"I have something to talk with you about" the man replied. "It's about the duel tonight."

"What, you want to take my place if I get chosen for the duel against some unknown stranger?" Shane asked. "Sure thing."

"That's not it" the man said seriously. "The thing is, that judging from your grades during the Entrance Exam, I have decided that you will be the most suited for the challenge."

"But Xander's much better" Shane replied. "Why can't he duel?"

"Because the opponent has already been chosen" the man said. "And unlike your friend, your deck is unknown to the opponent."

"Okay then" Shane replied. "But that still doesn't answer my first question. Who are you?"

"I am the headmaster of this Dorm" the man said. "Now, just go do whatever you were about to."

"How long do you plan on taking?" Xander asked shouting from outside the room. "And who is that guy you're talking to?"

"It's the headmaster of this Dorm" Shane said as he went towards the room. "For some strange reason, he wants _me_ to duel tonight."

"And what did you say?" Xander asked as Shane went through the door. "Did you accept?"

"Let me put it this way" Shane answered. "I wasn't given a choice."

Later, that night, all the students at the Academy had gathered around the main Dueling Arena, waiting for the duel to begin. Everywhere, students were talking so loudly, that no one could hear what the others said. Shortly after all the students had found a seat, the Chancellor came in on the Arena and began talking.

"Good evening, dear students" he said, and everyone became quiet all of a sudden. "It is now time for the annual Opening Duel. The teachers have decided who the two duelists that will face each other will be. There is not so much more to say, so let's get the two duelists down here. From the Red Dorm, we have Shane Parker…" As Shane's name was said, he got up from his seat and went down the stairs between the chair-rows. As he got down, he stepped up on a large elliptic scene, with multiple wires and cables going towards it, and with a large rectangular shape drawn on the surface. "And from the Blue Dorm, we have the Pro Duelist, Benjamin Jackson." Slowly, Ben rose from his seat as well, and went down to the Dueling Arena. As Ben stepped onto the Arena, Shane seemed to get a little frightened.

"Okay, I've lost" Shane said quickly. "There is no way, I will be able to defeat a Pro."

"Don't worry" Ben replied. "Just do your best. And hope I don't start with the right five cards."

"That's… less than assuring" Shane said.

"Now, both duelists, turn on your Duel-Disks and begin the duel" the chancellor interrupted and stepped out of the Arena, as both Shane and Ben turned on the Duel-Disk on their left arm.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/Shane - - - - - - - - - - - Ben/

/4000 LP- - - - - - - 4000 LP/

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"Alright, just to be fair, I'll let you go first" Ben said. "There wouldn't be much entertainment in watching a duel that ended in the first turn."

"That would never happen anyway" Shane replied and both of them drew five cards. "Now, let's duel!"

"Then make your move" Ben said.

"I draw" Shane replied and drew a sixth card. He looked at his cards for a moment. "I place four cards face-down and a monster in defense mode." As the cards were placed on the Duel-Disk, five larger versions of the cards appeared in front of Shane. "After that, I end my turn."

"Then I draw" Ben said and drew a card from his deck. He looked at it, after which he placed it on the Duel-Disk. "I place a single monster in defense mode. That's it." The Duel-Disk projected a larger image of the card face-down, hovering one foot above ground.

"Then it's my turn again. I draw" Shane replied and drew a card. "I place another monster in defense mode." Another card appeared hovering above the ground, next to Shane's other cards. "Your turn."

"Playing defensive, are we?" Ben asked. "Well, that won't help you much. I draw." He drew another card from his Duel-Disk, so he once again held six cards. "I start out by Flip Summoning my 'Card Killer' (300/500)." As the card was flipped, a small toy-robot with a harpoon appeared replacing the card shown by the Duel-Disk. "Whenever this card is flipped, you instantly lose a number of cards from your deck equal to half the number to cards on your side of the field. And since you have six cards, you can say good-bye to the three cards on top of your deck." Shane took the three top-most cards from his Duel-Disk and placed them in the Graveyard-slot. "Next, I sacrifice my Card Killer, in order to summon my 'Summoned Skull' (2500/1200)." The small toy-robot suddenly disappeared into a whirl of energy, and was replaced by a large skeletal demon.

"I think I'll just ruin your plans right now" Shane said. "I activate 'Trap Hole'. Whenever you summon a monster with 1000 or more attack points, I can destroy that monster." The large demon was instantly destroyed, as the card flipped up.

"Luckily, I already know the result of this duel" Ben replied. "I win and I'll prove it. Since there's a Fiend-type monster in my graveyard, I can remove that fiend from play to summon 'The Marquis of Belial' (2300/2250)." Ben removed a card from his graveyard and hid it in a pocket, after which he placed a card on the Duel-Disk. As he placed the card on the Duel-Disk, a large cloaked man appeared on the field. "Now, every time a monster is Special Summoned from the Graveyard, you lose a single card from your deck." Then he took yet another card from his hand and placed it on the Duel-Disk. "Next off, I activate the Spell Card, 'Replacements'. By removing a level 4 or lower monster from the graveyard, I can special summon up to two monsters of half the level each. So by removing my 'Card Killer' from play, I can Special Summon 'Unstable Core' (0/0) and 'Back-up Core' (0/0), both in attack mode." Ben took a card from the graveyard and hid it in a pocket, and the two big, black spheres appeared in front of him. Suddenly, one of them blew up.

"What just happened?" Shane asked.

"Easy. 'Unstable Core's' effect just activated" Ben said. "If there are monsters of other attributes than that of Unstable Core, it gets destroyed. And since my cores both are light and my marquis is dark, I think you can calculate the rest. Now, the interesting thing is my Back-up Core's effect. When Unstable Core is destroyed, it automatically special summons my Unstable Core from the graveyard." The black sphere suddenly reappeared. "Now, since a monster was special summoned, Marquis of Belial's effect activates. You now have to send one card to the graveyard." Shane took a card from his deck and placed it in the Graveyard. "Now, since there are monsters of other attributes than light, Unstable Core gets destroyed, just so I can special summon it and make you lose another card and let it get destroyed again, allowing me to bring it back, take away one of your cards and destroy it. In theory, I could have this process running all night if your deck was big enough."

"But, if that Infinite Loop continues infinitely many times, my deck will be reduced to…"

"…Zero" Ben said. "But don't worry. Losing's not so bad once you get used to it. Just like winning."

"And apparently, this concludes the Opening Duel" the chancellor interfered. "It was a little shorter than we had hoped, but we will have to settle for now. For the new students, please know that the lessons begin at 8:20 AM tomorrow. I expect everyone to at least pretend to be fresh and look sharp. Good night."

Later at night, Xander and Shane were on their way back to the dorm. Neither of them said anything, they just enjoyed the silence of the night. The sky was clear above them, with a large ring of clouds around the area, under which the island lay. Xander looked up at the stars. He had never seen such a clear star field before. The streetlights in the cities usually ruined that, if the clouds didn't. In the distance, he could hear some swift footsteps coming towards them. At first, it sounded like two people who were just walking a bit fast, but he shortly realized that there was only a single person. Someone who was running towards their dorm. Xander stopped up and looked behind, hoping to be able to see who it was, yet the person was still too far away. He turned around again and continued walking to the dorm.

"Hey, Xander, Shane, wait up" the person behind them shouted, as he got a little closer. Both boys stopped and turned around, allowing the person to catch up with them. "Whew. That was a bit tough for the legs."

"Neh?" Shane exclaimed, as he recognized the person.

"Oh, it's nothing. I'm just not used to running" Ben explained. "So, what's up?" Xander looked up at the stars again in response.

"The stars are pretty," he said. "I haven't seen such a beautiful sight before. I guess you don't see something like that when you are off the island either."

"The streetlights make it harder to see the stars" Ben replied. "So I never really thought off looking at them when I'm here."

"What's wrong, Ben?" Shane asked.

"What do you mean?" Ben asked back.

"You're all shaking" Shane answered. "Don't tell me you're freezing."

"I'm not" Ben said, with a small smile on his lips. "If anyone here should freeze, it ought to be you. You're not even wearing your uniform right now."

"The cold doesn't bug me" Shane replied and held his hands to his wrists, where he had his red uniform hanging tied. "I've felt worse temperatures."

"Good for you" Ben said. "About what I said last night, on the ferry. About you two not going to the main building for a whole month, I lied." Xander slowly clutched his right fist, and lifted it up in shoulder-height. Then, without a warning, he gave Ben a friendly knock on his left shoulder.

"Of course you were" Xander replied. "I knew there would be no way they could get through with treating people all _that_ differently, just because someone was luckier than others in the Entrance Exam."

"Shane, I want to let you know something" Ben said and turned to Shane. "About tonight's duel, I'm sorry it was so short. But I had to do my part for the League."

"The League?" Xander interfered. "What's the league?"

"The Pro League" Ben answered. "Recently, there hasn't been too many people buying tickets to watch duels in the stadiums, so the sponsors asked me to use the Opening Duel as an advertisement, a show-off to show how much better Pro League Duelists are, purely to attract attention, to attract people to the stadiums." Shane nodded carefully in response.

"I understand" he replied. "Just remember, that you owe me a proper duel then."

"I'll take that duel against you one day" Ben said. "Trust me. You will get your duel, but not yet. I only want to duel against foes into whose eyes I can look, and no matter how much I hate or like them, still consider them an honorable duelist. A duelist worth fighting. I'm sorry, but I can't consider any of you, or the others for that sake, worthy opponents yet." Ben looked down on the ground. "Yet somehow, I feel that I can do that, should I ever end in a duel against Dax."

"Huh?" Xander exclaimed silently. "That nuisance?"

"I know it may sound strange, but it's true" Ben said. He looked at the watch, he wore on his left arm. "Hm. It's late. You should be getting back to the dorm. See you tomorrow." Ben slowly turned and left, the same direction that he came from a while ago. Xander and Shane continued walking back to the red dorm. Once again, none of them said anything until they reached the dorm. As they came back to the dorm, Xander unlocked the door to their room and they went inside, and prepared to go to bed.

* * *

Yes, I know. The ending may seem a little (if not extremely) artificial. But truth be told, it's the best way to end this chapter that I could actually come up with. And don't worry, you won't be hearing anymore about the psycho introduced in this chapter, until much later in the story, as he is just another vaguely inferior 'minor character' with almost no 'screen-time' right now, and a heck lot of it later. So let's just leave the psycho alone for now. In next chapter, the school year actually begins. If you want to, you may review my story, as long as I get constructive criticism. ANY CONSTRUCTIVE FEED-BACK RECIEVED _WILL_ BE TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION WHEN I BEGIN WORKING ON NEXT CHAPTER!


	6. Zombie Reanimation!

I know it has been a while, since I uploaded the last chapter, so I'll do all my loyal readers a favor and save them from having to read the first 5 chapters again. Instead (and also by request from Starspejd) you can have a recap unless you reall want to read the other chapters again.

Enjoy your recap:

It began when Xander (Alexander Barkley, actually) and his friends all applied for the Duel Academy Entrance Exams. All of them, except Xander, managed to make it through in the first try, and Xander promised to try again a year later. However, on his way to the Entrance Exams next year, he came across a cloaked person, who claimed that he had sacrificed the soul of a boy, just about the same age as Xander, and that he could only be rescued by defeating the cloaked person, who was later revealed to be an 'Agent' named Raul. Xander dueled against Raul and managed to win after a quite short duel.

Having saved the boy, both hurry to the Entrance Exams, and sign up. They both soon get started on their duels, and they make an usual bet; the slowest of them owes the other a sandwich. Xander quickly manages to get the upper hand in his duel, until the true identity of his opponent is revealed. The proctor was Ben, the best duelist in the gang. Not hesitating to counter, Ben begins a counter-offensive, and almost defeats Xander, when Xander makes a miraculous draw; one of the only cards that could turn the tables. Xander uses the trap card, and wins the duel.

After the duel, they all three go get something to eat, when Xander is congratulated by two others from the gang, Jake and Rob. After having something to eat, they go to their hideout. Later that day, just before Xander comes home, Raul challenges Xander to a rematch, and says that their duel will be a Shadow Game, although both of them survived. Xander wins again, and Raul leaves.

Next day, on the way to Academy Island, Ben explains some of the things that Xander and Shane (the boy Xander saved) might want to know. Just about an hour after departure, Xander notices a person who looks similar to Raul, yet this guy wears a plain, white mask over his face with a small, black Sigma engraved in the forehead of the mask. Xander engages the person without any reason, and the person, called Sigma after the sign on his mask, challenges Xander to a duel, and quickly gains the advantage. Xander does his best, despite his terrific starting hand, but loses the duel. Much later, the ferry arrives at the Island, and the first thing that happens is, that the guards, who are there to greet them, get pushed into the water, by a mysterious, young man.

The students all head towards the large building in the center of the Island, which is the Main Building. Here, the chancellor welcomes them, and they receive their uniforms. other than that, the mysterious person is revealed to be the leader of a scientific company, who is there to do some research. Later, that night, the Opening Match takes place between Ben and Shane, and the first glimpse into Ben's deck takes place. Ben manages to defeat Shane with an Infinite Loop, using cards with effects that can keep going on forever, triggering each other constantly. After the duel, Ben apologizes for making the Duel so short and explains why.

There, you had your recap. Now you don't _have_ to re-read the other chapters. Also, each chapter has been cut down to a single paragraph each, so it's easier to read.

Now, about the more interesting part, I think it's about time to let you read the latest installment in my story, Chapter 6. Enjoy!

**

* * *

Chapter 6****:**

_Zombie Reanimation!  
_

"Hey, Xander! Wake up!" Shane shouted at Xander, who was still lying in his bed, although the alarm clock in the room had been beeping loudly for almost an hour, waking everyone else in the dorm. However, to Shane's surprise, Xander didn't even seem to hear it. "The classes begin in less than thirty minutes!" Xander slowly tried to open his eyes, but he was so sleepy that his eyelids felt like as if they were made of lead. Having already tried almost everything else, Shane decided to grab Xander by the right leg and pulled him out of the bed. As Xander's head hit the hard wooden floor, he instantly woke up and took his hands to the back of his head. He immediately got up on his legs, still feeling the pain from being dragged out of the bed.

"WHAT ARE YOU? INSANE?" Xander shouted even louder than the alarm clock was beeping. "Can't you just wake up people without having to pull them out of their beds?" Shane quickly hit the Power-button on the alarm clock, stopping it from making any unnecessary noise.

"Normally, that would be a lot easier" Shane said. "But in your case, it's impossible. I mean, if not even that noisy thing is capable of waking you up, how should a single 'good morning' help?"

"Well, you see, don't you think there's a reason I have those earplugs to reduce the noise?" Xander replied. "I don't want noise to disturb my sleep."

"From now on, I'm prohibiting earplugs within this room, understood?" Shane said. "The classes are starting in less than half an hour, so hurry up and get dressed. I'll be waiting outside."

"Fine" Xander sighed. "There's no need to be rude." As Xander started finding his clothes, Shane left to room. He stepped out on the metallic grating outside their room, and leaned against the pale yellow wall. The sun was already standing high on the sky, the weather was nice and the quiet, gentle chirps from birds was the only actual sound other than the gentle wind soothing through the trees.

"Man, waking Xander sure isn't easy" Shane thought to himself, sighing easily. "I don't hope there's going to be this much trouble every day." After about three minutes, Xander opened the door and stepped outside. "Great, you're ready. Let's hurry to the Academy" Shane mumbled as the door opened and started walking towards the large building at the very center of the island. Both of them hurried as fast as they could, not even stopping to catch their breath. "If we're late, I'll tell them that you're the one to blame."

"What? Me?" Xander asked as they ran as fast as possible. "You're the one who didn't wake me up."

"I tried to" Shane said complaining, "yet you sleep like a stone." Neither of them said any more until they finally reached the Main Building. The two boys opened the glassy front doors, an stepped inside the warm hallway just behind the door. They found the classroom, in which they were supposed to be, after just a few turns to the left and right. Before they had even opened the door, Xander rushed through it, breaking it up.

"Hi everyone" Xander said smiling, after breaking the door open. "Don't hope we're late."

"Actually, you're a single minute late" a tall, pale man in front of a desk replied, "but I'll let you go this time, since you're new and usually, new students have some trouble finding the right classroom."

"Cool, thanks" Xander said. "You're already my favorite teacher here."

"Truth be told, we had no trouble finding the right classroom" Shane interfered. "Xander just thought it was a good idea to sleep with earplugs, so the alarm clock wouldn't disturb his sleep."

"In that case, I'll be a little tolerant and just give you detention" the teacher said. "It's either that or expelling you."

"Shane!" Xander said angrily. "You just _had_ to ruin everything, didn't you?"

"After today's classes, you will go to the detention center" the teacher said. "There, you will find a student named Daxter. He is in charge of the center."

"Daxter… Why did it have to be Dax?" Xander thought. "He's going to brag even more _now_."

"Hm. I needed to speak to Dax anyway" Shane thought to himself. "And what better opportunity than this?"

"For now, find a seat" the teacher said, nearly commandeering them. Xander and Shane each found a seat, and sat down. The teacher ten returned to the topic he was talking about a while ago. Suddenly, Shane noticed a faint sound of snoring next to him.

"How can he already sleep again?" Shane mumbled quietly, and tried poking Xander, in an attempt to make him wake up.

"Shane, can you please explain what a Spell Card is, and what variants there are?" the teacher asked gently.

"Who, me?" Shane replied confused. "Uh, sure."

"Then please get down here" the teacher said, and Shane got down to the desk, located at the bottom of some stairs. He turned around, to face the other students in the room.

"Okay… Spell Cards are cards that can be played, as long as the prerequisites are met, unless there are no such" Shane explained. "There are six different kind of Spell Cards. There are the Normal Spell Cards, which can only be used during your own turn, and can either make monsters stronger or weaker, or let you special summon or draw cards, or something else. Then there are Quick-Play Spell Cards, that work like Normal Spell Cards, except Quick-Play Spell Cards can be used during the opponent's turn, if you've had them in your hand for one or more turns. Then there are Equip Spells, that usually increases or decreases the stats of monsters equipped with the card, but can also sometimes do other things, like make your monster indestructible. And the Continuous Spells are Spells that remain in effect for longer periods of time, usually until they are destroyed. The Ritual Spells are special Spells used to summon a specific monster. And finally, there are the Field Spells, which are most often used to power up a given group of monsters, usually determined by archetype, type or attribute."

"Good" the teacher said. "Get back to your seat." Shane went back to his seat next to Xander, and sat down for the remainder of the class. The rest of the day, went smoothly enough, without anything unexpected happening, except the detention, that Shane had got them into.

After the last class of the day, Xander and Shane found the detention center, where they had been told to go after class. They entered the large spherical chamber, with several monitors hanging from the top of the room. A long table was right in front of them as they entered the room, with a few students from the Blue Dorm behind the desk.

"Well, well, well. Look who we have here" a familiar voice said, the moment they stepped through the door. "If it isn't the slacker and his friend."

"Let's just get this over with, Dax" Xander replied, still as sleepy as before they got to the first class. "We were told to meet you down here."

"So you got into detention" Dax said. "Heh. Suits a slacker like you just perfectly. Let me warn you. Here in the detention center, _I_ am the law. Anything I say is legal, is legal. And since we're former acquaintances, let me do you a favor."

"Aqua-what?" Xander asked confused.

"Don't tell me you forgot. We are former acquaintances" Dax said. "So let me be as kind as to be a little fair. Instead of having you slackers take a test that would be impossible for you, I'll let you have it a bit easier. _If_ you can defeat an opponent of my choice, I'll let you go free. Otherwise, you'll have to take the test."

"Just bring this opponent then" Shane replied. "I'm sure Xander can beat him."

"Of course, since this opponent I'm referring to is an undefeated duelist, I'll even let you go against him together" Dax added.

"No way" Xander said. "In that case, bring two opponents. It's not fair to outnumber the opponent."

"Xander's right" Shane continued. "If we can team up, so can the opponent."

"Then you'll be fighting alone" Dax replied. "Follow me." He led them past the counter and onto a small lift, where he pressed a small, black button on the control panel, operating the lift, causing it to slowly move up towards a large, rectangular platform, which hang from the ceiling in ten sturdy steel-wires. After just about two minutes, they could see a robed man standing on the platform, with a completely black Duel-Disk on his arm, similar in design to that of the standard Duel-Disks used during the Battle City tournament several years ago. Soon, the platform stopped and Xander, Shane and Dax got off. "Here's your opponent."

"Do you want to beat him, or can I do it?" Xander asked Shane.

"Nah, you just do it" Shane answered. "Just as long as you win, I don't care."

"Okay then" Xander said and took his deck from his pocket and placed it in his own Duel-Disk and turned it on. He stepped into the Dueling Arena. The robed man turned on his own Duel-Disk as well. "So, who goes first?"

"You" the robed man answered. The man took off the hood on his robe, and lifted up his head, revealing a white mask with a small black sigma in the forehead. "Good luck."

"Thanks, Sigma" Xander said. "I had actually hoped, that I wouldn't be dueling against one of you Agents, but I guess I'll just have to live with it."

"Let the duel begin" Sigma replied. Then, both duelists drew their first five cards.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/Xander - - - - - - - - -Sigma/

/4000 LP- - - - - - - 4000 LP/

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"I go first? Fine then. I draw!" Xander said and drew a card from his deck and looked at it. Then he placed it in his left hand and took another card he already had in the hand, and placed it in the Duel-Disk. "I set a face-down." Slowly, the holographic projection of the card appeared above the ground, and Xander took a third card from his left hand. "And I summon my 'Flame Drake' (1900/100) in attack mode." As Xander placed the card on the Duel-Disk, a large, red dragon appeared next to him, hovering above the ground. Then, Xander took another card from his hand and placed it on the Duel-Disk. "Next off, I activate my 'Double Summon' Spell Card. With this, I'm allowed to Normal Summon another monster to the field." He took a fifth card from his hand and placed it on the Duel-Disk. "And I'll you this opportunity to summon my 'Scorch Drake' (1400/1600) in attack mode." As Xander placed the Monster Card, a small, dragon consisting entirely of flames appeared on the field, causing the air around it to bulge because of the heat. "That's all for now."

"Hm. Then it's my turn" Sigma replied and drew a card. "Now, tell me. Are you afraid of the dark?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Xander asked.

"Easy. The monster I am going to summon is the manifestation of everyone's fear of the dark" Sigma said. "It's a monster so frightening that-"

"Just play the card already" Xander interrupted. "Or are you going to take this long before you do anything every turn?"

"Fine then. I summon the 'Fear from the Dark' (1700/1500) in attack mode" Sigma said and placed a card from his hand on the Duel-Disk, causing a large, red spirit with long purple arms to slowly rise from the floor. The spirit stared meanly at Xander with its large, yellow, glowing eyes. Then, Sigma took two other cards from his hand and placed them face-down in the Duel-Disk's designated slots for Spell and Trap Cards. "Then I place two face-down cards, and now, I'll let you experience true fear. 'Fear from the Dark' attacks 'Scorch Drake'." The large, red spirit launched its long arms at Xander's monster, as Xander's face-down card rose to a standing position, and an explosion appeared, where 'Scorch Drake' was, covering Xander's entire field in smoke. "I hope you didn't get too attached to your flying campfire, because I just extinguished it."

"That's what you believe" Xander replied. Slowly, the smoke cloud slowly subsided and Xander's 'Scorch Drake' was gone, as well as his 'Flame Drake'. However, from the smoke flew out a larger dragon, with orange skin and large wings, together ranging more than twice its own length. Its claws and its tail were all covered in flames, and two long, light-brown spikes grew from the middle of both wings. The dragon curled up for a moment, before it flung its wings to the sides, revealing the large dragon, which slowly landed down next to Xander afterwards. The dragon let out a loud roar as Sigma took a small step back.

"What is that?" Sigma asked. "I destroyed your monster. I destroyed you little dragon with no problems, so why did they only grow?"

"Well, the short version is that I didn't have a fusion spell in my hand" Xander said. "So I had to use my 'Emergency Fusion' Trap Card, allowing me to fuse my Flame Drake and my Scorch Drake to Fusion Summon my 'Hellfire Drake' (2600/1000)."

"Hm. Then I end my turn" Sigma replied.

"Then it's my move" Xander said and drew a card. "And I'll continue my little party, by activating my 'Graceful Charity' Spell Card." He placed the card in the Duel-Disk, causing a larger version to appear. "Now, I get to draw three cards from my deck, but I'll have to discard two cards afterwards." Xander drew three cards from his deck, and took one of the newly drawn cards, as well as one of the cards he already had and placed them in the Graveyard slot in the Duel-Disk. "Seems like I was lucky. I set two cards face-down, and then, I set a monster in defense mode." Slowly, the three cards appeared, floating above the ground. "Now, 'Hellfire Drake'! Scorch his Fear from the Dark! Great Fireball Blast!" The large, orange dragon gathered a sphere of flames in its mouth and fired it at the red spirit, which was burnt to a crisp upon impact. "Now, since your monster was destroyed, my dragon's effect activates. If my dragon is of a level higher than that of an opponent's monster, we both draw cards equal to half the difference rounded down. In other words, we each get to draw a single card." Both duelists drew a card from their respective decks and looked at it. "Your move."

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/Xander - - - - - - - - -Sigma/

/4000 LP- - - - - - - 3100 LP/

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"Then I draw" Sigma said and drew a card. "I activate my Continuous Spell Card, 'Call of the Mummy'." Sigma placed the card he had just drawn in one of the Spell Card zones in the Duel-Disk, and the card appeared standing upright. "Then, since I have no monsters on the field, I can activate the effect of my Spell Card. This allows me to Special Summon a Zombie from my hand, so I'll bring out my 'Fear from the Dark's big brother, 'Despair from the Dark' (2800/3000) in attack mode." Sigma took a card in his hand and placed it on the Duel-Disk, causing a larger spirit, similar to the first, only bigger and deadlier, to appear in front of Sigma.

"Didn't I just destroy that?" Xander asked. "Oh well, I guess I'll just have to do it again."

"This monster is stronger than the other one" Sigma said and flipped one of the face-down cards, he had placed a moment ago. "Next off, I activate my Continuous Spell Card, 'Zombie Reanimation'. By paying 500 Life Points, I can Special Summon a Zombie from the Graveyard to the Field. However, the Zombie I return to the field cannot attack the turn it is Special Summoned."

"What kind of lame effect is that?" Xander asked curiously. "Why bring back a monster, if you can't attack with it?"

"Easy. Just watch this" Sigma said, and his Life Points dropped by 500. "I pay 500 Life Points to activate my 'Zombie Reanimation's effect, just so I can bring back my 'Fear from the Dark' in attack mode."

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/Xander - - - - - - - - -Sigma/

/4000 LP- - - - - - - 2600 LP/

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

Sigma took the monster from the graveyard, and placed it back on the Duel-Disk, causing the red spirit from earlier to re-rise from the floor, next to the larger spirit. "Then, since a Zombie was Special Summoned from my Graveyard, I can activate my Trap card, 'Reanimation Sacrifice'. By sacrificing the Zombie I just Special Summoned, I can Special Summon a Zombie from my hand, whose level is exactly twice the level of the Zombie I Summoned using 'Zombie Reanimation'. Since my 'Fear from the Dark' is a level 4 monster, I can get a level 8 Zombie out." The newly resurrected spirit began to shimmer and slowly, it changed into a more humanoid creature, whose flesh was more or less eaten up by bugs of all sorts, only with very little strips of flesh hanging loosely out of the creature's dark-grey suit of armor. "I let go of my 'Fear from the Dark' to summon my 'Undead Dark Knight' (3000/1500)." Sigma took the last card in his hand, and placed it on the Duel-Disk. "Sadly, I have no cards left in my hand, so I cannot use the Summoning Effect of my Undead Dark Knight. However, my Knight has other effects than that. By paying 500 Life Points, I can choose a monster in my deck, which I wish to send to the Graveyard. I pay those 500 Life Points."

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/Xander - - - - - - - - -Sigma/

/4000 LP- - - - - - - 2100 LP/

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"Now, I can let my 'Ryu Kokki' go to the Graveyard" Sigma said, as he looked his deck through, searching for the card. He took it and placed it in the Graveyard-slot in the Duel-Disk. "Now, how would you like your dragon?"

"In one piece?" Xander answered, hoping Sigma would refrain from attacking.

"How does 'torn to pieces and devoured by an evil, undead spirit' sound?" Sigma asked. "Well, not that it matters, 'cause that's the way, you get your dragon. 'Despair! Attack his dragon! Despair Shadow Crusher!" The spirit launched its long, purple arms at Xander's dragon, catching it and squeezing it without trouble. Slowly, one of Xander's face-down cards flipped up, as Xander's dragon was destroyed.

"I activate my 'Elemental Shift' Trap Card!" Xander shouted, as the card was activated. "When a Fusion Monster on my side of the Field is destroyed, by giving up 800 Life Points, I can Special Summon a Fusion Monster from my Fusion Deck, with another attribute than the one destroyed. So I Special Summon my 'Blizzard Drake' (2400/1800) in attack mode." As Xander took the card from his Fusion Deck, and placed it on the Duel-Disk, a white pillar of light struck down on Xander's side of the field, and a large, pale dragon flew down through the light, and landed in front of him, hailing large icicles down from the ceiling. The creature's skin shone white as snow, almost blinding both Xander, Shane and Dax.

"But you still lose Life Points" Sigma said.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/Xander - - - - - - - - -Sigma/

/3000 LP- - - - - - - 2100 LP/

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"Next, Undead Dark Knight! Attack his 'Blizzard Drake'!" Sigma commanded, and the more or less corroded knight swung its large sword, cleaving Xander's dragon in one hit.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/Xander - - - - - - - - -Sigma/

/2400 LP- - - - - - - 2100 LP/

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"Your turn" Sigma said.

"I draw" Xander shouted as he drew a card from his deck and looked at it. "Time to counter!" He took a card from his hand, and placed it in the Duel-Disk. "I activate 'Polymerization'. So by sending 'Radiant Drake' and 'Bolt Drake' to the Graveyard, I can Fusion Summon my 'Lightning Drake' (2300/1400)." He sent the two cards in his hand to the Graveyard, and a large, white dragon and a just as large yellow dragon, both twice Xander's size long, appeared in front of him. They both let out a loud roar, and took off, flying straight upwards, until just before they hit the ceiling, at which point they collided in a flash, and a larger white dragon with yellow, almost golden, orbs on the joints in its legs and wings, landed down on the platform that made up the Arena, where it let out a roar.

"Raul warned me about that dragon" Sigma said calmly. "Apparently, he lost to you, once that dragon came out on the field. But I ain't scared. Your little pet dragon is nowhere powerful enough to defeat my monsters."

"But I have some cards that enhances it" Xander replied. "And one of those cards is right in front of you."

"What do you mean?" Sigma asked.

"What I'm saying" Xander answered. "I Flip Summon my face-down monster, 'Dragon Master' (300/500)." As Xander flipped the card, a human, not much bigger than the average adult, appeared in front of Xander, holding a whip in his hand. "Once per turn, I can take a 'Drake'-monster in my Graveyard, and equip it to any of my 'Drake'-monsters on the field, to increase the Attack and Defense Points of the monster equipped with a card, by the Attack and Defense Points of the equipped card. I choose to equip my 'Hellfire Drake' (2600/1000) to my 'Lightning Drake'" The man swung his whip once, and an orange aura appeared around 'Lightning Drake' (ATK: 2300 - 4900/DEF: 1400 - 2400).

"But you still don't stand a chance" Sigma said. "It doesn't matter if your Attack Points are higher than mine."

"Or does it?" Xander replied. "'Lightning Drake'! Zap his 'Undead Dark Knight'. Shock Wave Bolt!" The large dragon charged a bolt of electricity in its mouth, and fired it as a long, arcing lightning, piercing through the undead knight.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/Xander - - - - - - - - -Sigma/

/2400 LP- - - - - - - - 200 LP/

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"Argh" Sigma exclaimed, as the bolt continued through the monster and hit him, knocking him down.

"I end my turn" Xander said, with a serious expression, judging from his facial expression.

"Pull yourself together" Dax shouted angrily, as Sigma slowly got up. "I didn't pay you to get beaten up."

"I draw" Sigma said and drew a card from his deck. "I sacrifice 'Despair from the Dark', in order to Special Summon 'Cursed Demon Knight' (3800/4000) in attack mode." As Sigma placed the card on the Duel-Disk, the large red spirit turned into a white silhouette, and the shape changed. The monster returned to colors, revealing a large knight in a completely black armor suit, covering its entire body, with purple smoke around it. "'Cursed Demon Knight' has an Attack and Defense value equal to that of the sacrificed monster plus 1000."

"Still that's not enough to beat my 'Lightning Drake'" Xander said.

"And thanks to my Demon Knight's Initial Effect, all Spells and Traps on the field are wiped away" Sigma continued, and both players removed the cards in their respective Spell and Trap Card Zones. The orange aura around Xander's dragon disappeared at the same time. "Now, Demon Knight! Attack his Dragon." The Knight rushed at the dragon with its large broadsword, which was at least 2 meters long, covered in large scales. "Rough Skin Slash!" The Knight jabbed the sword at the dragon, as another creature jumped in front of the attack.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/Xander - - - - - - - - -Sigma/

/900 LP- - - - - - - - - 200 LP/

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"What happened?" Sigma asked surprised.

"My 'Dragon Master' just got destroyed" Xander answered. "Due to his effect, if a 'Drake'-monster is attacked, I can choose to let my 'Dragon Master' get destroyed instead, and still only take the damage I would have suffered otherwise."

"But that's unfair" Sigma said.

"Perhaps" Xander replied. "But I'll live with it."

"Now, since my Demon Knight destroyed a monster in battle, I can remove a monster in my Graveyard, in order to Special Summon a Zombie from the Graveyard" Sigma said. "I remove 'Fear from the Dark' in order to bring back 'Despair from the Dark' (2800/3000) in attack mode." The large red spirit reappeared on the field. "Now, Despair! Destroy his Dragon!" the spirit launched its fists at Xander's dragon, crushing it without any further ado. "Your move."

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/Xander - - - - - - - - -Sigma/

/400 LP- - - - - - - - - 200 LP/

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"This is the last turn" Xander replied and drew a card. "We finish it now."

"Then come at me" Sigma said. "Give me your best shot."

"Fine then" Xander replied. "I sacrifice 'Lightning Drake' to Tribute Summon 'Avenger Dragon' (2000/2000) in Attack mode." As Xander placed the card on the Duel-Disk, a large, black dragon with large horns on its head and neck appeared in front of Xander. Its horns were ivory-colored, and its large wings were black with yellow skin between the dragon's torso and the edge of the wings, which both, when stretched out, would be wider than the Arena was long. "And my new dragon gains a 200 point boost for every 'Drake'-monster in my Graveyard. This gives it 1600 extra points (ATK: 2000 - 3600/DEF: 2000 - 3600)." Slowly, a bright aura began to appear around the dragon, causing it to look a bit stronger than before. "Avenger Dragon attacks Despair from the Dark! Avenger Dragon. Cleanse the soul of the fallen ones. AVENGING FLAME INFERNO!" The large, black dragon sent a large arc of searing flames from its mouth, covering Sigma's entire field in fire. The large, red spirit instantly got vaporized by the flames.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/Xander - - - - - - - - -Sigma/

/400 LP- - - - - - - - - - - 0 LP/

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"You're useless" Dax said, as he went back to the lift. "Getting beaten up like that. I have no use for you anymore. You're fired!"

"I understand" Sigma replied, and turned away. "I shall leave you alone for now. Thank you, young man."

"You're talking to me?" Xander asked confused. "Why do you thank me?"

"You played well" Sigma answered. "I have not had a duel this great for a long time. I owe you a favor."

"Oh, great" Xander said. "So whenever I need some help, I just have to call you. Good."

"Who is your master?" Shane asked. "Tell us."

"I cannot do that" Sigma replied. "I am sorry, but I cannot betray my master."

"Then just tell us what those 'Agents' Raul told me about, a few days ago, are" Xander said. "He said that he was an 'Agent' of something called the T.E.. What is that?"

"The T.E. is a company acronym for the Thorn Empire" Sigma answered. "Both Raul and I are what are called 'Agents', the Director's, and our master's, personal bodyguards and servants. The T.E. started out as a small company, producing minor add-ons for use in gaming systems, mainly Duel-Disks, aiming to make it easier to create new technology. However, the company soon began to lose great amounts of money every year, so to prevent this from happening, the Director ordered the scientists to develop a certain machine, with a purpose that I'm unfamiliar with, causing the company to lose more money. Ever since then, our master, the Director, has been sending us 'Agents' to duel against completely random strangers, to gather energy to power up the machine."

"You say 'completely random strangers'" Shane said. "How can it be completely random strangers if you duel against Xander all the time?"

"Our master has begun to find this young man interesting, and therefore he requested that we duel against him as often as possible. Also he has noticed that he gains most energy that way, for strange reasons" Sigma answered. "I am not sure how it works, I just know it does."

"Is this master of yours by any chance the guy who teleported several times yesterday?" Xander asked.

"That is him" Sigma said. "Why do you ask?"

"Why does he use his ability to teleport so much instead of just walking?" Shane asked. "It must take a lot of energy to teleport constantly. And how the heck can he even do it in the first place?"

"He only has this ability to teleport, or jump through dimensions, because he sold his soul to make an alliance with some dark being, he never mentioned by any actual name, other than 'the shadow of the night'" Sigma said. "The agreement was to build the machine with no known purpose, in exchange for granting my master the ability to control the shadows to move around as he wishes."

"But why abuse such power?" Shane asked.

"Like my master once said, 'with great power comes great opportunities to abuse that power'" Sigma answered. "Not that I, for one, agree with him. He has been abusing his ability too much. I don't know if he can even stand on his own legs any longer."

"Well, thanks for all the info" Xander said and he and Shane turned around and stepped onto the lift, taking them down to the entrance. After a minute, the lift stopped and they got off, leaving through the door.

"Leaving so soon?" Dax asked him, as he was on his way out of the room.

"That's what I was planning, yes" Xander answered and continued through the door. "Not that you ought to care anyway, since you don't want to know of any of us."

"I say we just ignore him and get back to the dorm" Shane said, and they headed back to the dorm. "Sounds like the possible idea right now."

"Yeah, let's do that" Xander replied. As they got outside, they saw four empty helicopters parked outside the Academy, none of them knowing what the reason was. They ignored the empty helicopters and continued back to the dorm. "I wonder how many of those Agents there are."

"What I wonder most about right now is, why there are four empty helicopters standing outside the front door" Shane said. "I suppose Ben ought to know it."

"What do you suppose I know?" they heard Ben ask behind them. Xander and Shane both turned around surprised.

"Do you know why there are all those helicopters here?" Shane asked curiously. "I haven't heard anything."

"Oh, _that_" Ben said. "That's just some engineers who're busy working in the Main Arena. I heard that the new season in the Pro League is going to begin tonight."

"And is there any reason it has to be here?" Xander asked. "It could have been in the Kaiba Dome back home."

"I don't know why it's here" Ben said. "But I don't mind it. I won't have to travel so far."

"You actually want to spend the entire evening watching someone, you don't know, duel?" Xander asked. "Wow. Talk about waste of time, when _you_ could be dueling instead."

"I never said anything about watching the duel" Ben said and left. Shortly after, Xander and Shane went back to the dorm.

"I guess whoever came in those helicopters haven't heard of the Agents" Xander mumbled as he stepped through the door, entering the room.

* * *

And as usual, feel free to give me a review (if you want to), telling me what I can do better and other such stuff. Constructive criticism is always appreciated. I know my story is not perfect, so please let me know where to improve. Any useful advice given will be taken into consideration when I write next chapter.


	7. Unexpected Retaliation! Avenger's Blast!

It may seem like forever and a day since my last chapter was uploaded, but atleast it didn't take nearly as long time as CH6 did. Before you get a recap (whether you want one or not), I want to warn you. This chapter doesn't center around Xander at all. He actually only makes minor 'Guest appearances' although he's the main character of the story. So if you're only reading this fanfic for the sake of 'reading' Xander's Duels, you'll have to wait a chapter or two. I don't want Xander to steal all the screen-time.

Here's your recap, as promised:

Previously on Yu-Gi-Oh! GX - The Holy Warriors, Xander, Shane, Ben, Jake and Rob (among others) arrived at Duel Academy, and the freshmen got seperated into their respective dorms. Later, Ben defeated Shane in an Opening Duel, using a combo he calls the Infinite Loop, which in a single turn, empties the opponent's deck completely. Next day, Xander and Shane got sent to the Detention Center, for being late for classes, and Xander encountered an Agent of the Thorn Empire named Sigma, who after getting defeated in a Duel, tells Xander a bit about the Thorn Empire, and reveals that the reason why Malcolm, the leader of the Thorn Empire, can teleport, is because of an alliance he made with a dark being. Later, Xander and Shane notices 4 helicopters standing in front of the Academy, and ask Ben why they're there, and he tells them that there's going to be a Pro League Duel that evening on the island.

This is where the story continues, only a little later.

* * *

**Chapter 7:**

_Unexpected Retaliation! Avenger's Blast!_

Later that day, as the evening moved closer, Xander and his friends were spread in the different dorms, doing different things. Jake and Rob were trying to improve their dueling skills, Xander was taking a nap, Shane ran around outside, just to get some fresh air and Ben was sitting, all alone in his large room, which could almost be qualified as an apartment, with blue carpets on the floor and the ceiling, and white walls. He wasn't wearing his Academy Uniform, but instead a long, cobalt coat, which was similar in design to that of his Academy Uniform, except this one had been hand-sewn, and it had a small, yellow metal-star on top of each shoulder. Above the door to the room hang a blue crest, with a figure that resembled one of the legendary Egyptian God Cards, Obelisk the Tormentor, which had initially belonged to the founder of Duel Academy, Seto Kaiba, but it was later lost in a duel against the King of Games, Yugi Moto, during the Battle City finals. Blue curtains hang down next to the 1 yard wide, 2 yards tall windows, neatly tied to the side of the windows. His bed was located in a smaller room, which he had full access to from the room he currently sat in, in a big, comfortable armchair with black leather upholstery, and a small round table consisting of four curved, silver-clad metal pipes, touching each other in the middle of the table, forming a cross when seen from above or below, holding a round disc of glass with a polished metal frame. On top of the table lied several piles of cards, systematically stacked so one pile contained Quick-Play Spell Cards, while another purely consisted of Warrior-monsters, and yet another was made up solely by Counter Traps and so on. Ben was sitting in his armchair, holding his deck, carefully looking through it, one card at a time, and took some out, and added some other cards, in order to keep the number of cards the same.

After keeping it up for almost two hours, Ben put down his deck on the table and leaned back in the armchair and put the feet up on a matching stool. He looked around in the room, in which he had not been ever since before the summer break. "It sure is good to be back" he thought, as he looked around. "I just hope my first duel in this season can be better than my duel against Shane yesterday. That duel was too short. Not that I can blame him, of course, since there was nothing he could do against my Infinite Loop. Somehow, I actually think that my combo is what keeps people away, when they hear that I'm dueling in the Pro League. But I'll prove that I can win without that combo. That's what this deck is built to do." He got up from the chair and left the room, heading for the Main Arena, where the duel would be taking place.

He quickly got to the Academy, since it only was a kilometer from the entrance to the Blue Dorm, and entered through the front door. He immediately approached the counter and told the men there to note down that he had arrived, so the duel could soon start. Ben went straight to the preparation room, which was located in one end of the Arena, and waited for the announcer to begin the duel.

"Ladies and gentlemen! It is with pleasure that we can now announce that the new season of the Pro League can begin" the announcer soon shouted into a microphone. "This duel will be aired live on television. But the most important part of this duel is still missing, so let's get the two duelists in here. Give a hand to the currently youngest Pro in the Pro League, Benjamin Jackson!" As Ben heard his name, the door to the Arena opened, and Ben stepped through it, and went onto the Arena, standing in his end. However, despite the large crowd, with all seats occupied, he didn't hear more than a small group cheering for him. Not that it surprised him at all, judging from the lack of intensity in his last many duels. Then, the announcer continued talking. "And tonight he will be facing off against Ian Steiner." Soon, the doors in the opposite end of the Arena opened, and a tall, muscular man with long, dark-red hair and a black suit, which looked like a cheap suit, not much more than 50 dollars worth, stepped into the Arena, and both went to the middle where they stopped, facing each other.

"I won't let you win" Ben said and held forward his deck.

"Heh, like you have a choice" Ian Steiner replied and held out his own deck as well. They both took the other's and began shuffling the cards, making sure that neither would be able to place the cards, they would like to start with, on the top of the decks. "I've built this deck specifically to make your Infinite Loop useless."

"Trust me, Steiner" Ben said calmly, as they both gave back their decks. "I don't have that combo in this deck. And even if I did, I know better than to foolishly be dependent on that single combo."

"Then why do you always use it?" Steiner asked. Both duelists stepped back to their own end of the Arena, where they turned around, and the announcer jumped out of the Arena, to avoid getting in the way when the duel began.

"Are both duelists ready?" the announcer asked, and both replied with a quick nod. "I'll take that as a 'yes'." He waited a short moment, while the two duelists placed their decks in the Duel-Disks. "Now, everybody! Let the Duel commence!"

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/Ben - - - - - - - - - - Steiner/

/4000 LP- - - - - - - - 4000 LP/

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"I'll make the first move!" Steiner said, as both duelists drew their first five cards. Then, Steiner drew another card, and looked at all his cards. "This duel is as good as over. I set a monster face-down and three face-down cards." He placed the cards on the Duel-Disk, which instantly created an image of the four cards hovering above the floor. "That's all for now."

"Then I draw" Ben replied and drew a card from his deck. He took a look at all the cards, before he made his move. "Well, this doesn't look optimal, but it'll have to work" he thought as he saw what cards he had draws. "I'll just have to do my best with this hand."

"Are you too scared to make a move?" Steiner asked, with a tone of superiority in his voice.

"No. It's called thinking" Ben answered and took two cards from his hand. "I set two face-down cards." The two cards appeared in front of him, floating one foot above the floor. "Then, I set a face-down monster too." Another card appeared floating between the two duelists. "Your move."

"Fine, then" Steiner said. "And I summon my 'Gagagigo' (1850/1000) in Attack Mode." As Steiner played the card, a large, humanoid, turquoise-scaled lizard appeared in front of him. It had some beige cloth around its waist and on the wrists, seemingly to prevent too severe injuries to the hands and wrists when fighting. "Next, I play the Equip Spell 'Ballista of Rampart Smashing', which I equip to Gagagigo." Suddenly, a large ballista appeared next to Gagagigo, loaded with an oversized arrow, measuring between 2 and 3 meters of length and with a diameter of just about 30 centimeters.

"If I'm not mistaken, Gagagigo now gains 1500 Attack points, whenever he attacks face-down Defense Position monster" Ben replied calmly.

"That's right" Steiner said. "And I have the right cards to help myself gain the biggest possible advantage."

"Then one of his face-downs must be a card that forces my monsters into Defense Position" Ben thought. "And if I'm right, he also happens to have a card allowing his monsters to deal Battle Damage, even when attacking Defense Position monsters. I should finish this quickly, before he finishes me."

"Are you scared?" Steiner asked. "If not, I'll try harder. I activate my face-down card, 'Big Bang Shot'. By equipping this card to Gagagigo, I can increase his Attack Power by another 400 Attack Points (Gagagigo: ATK 1850-2250)." Slowly, an aura of flames appeared around Gagagigo, and its muscles tightened. "Gagagigo, attack his face-down monster (Gagagigo: ATK: 2250-3750)."

"This is bad" Ben thought, as the lizard jumped towards his monster. "My monster can barely defend itself with its 1200 Defense Points, and with his piercing effect, I'll be finished in no time. Well, no second chance." The lizard threw a punch at Ben's monster, which was instantly destroyed, and continued towards Ben.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/Ben - - - - - - - - - - Steiner/

/1450 LP- - - - - - - - 4000 LP/

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

Slowly, one of Ben's face-down cards flipped, and stood still in an upright position. "I activate 'Spacegate'" Ben said. "With this Continuous Trap, I can place one Gate Counter on it every time a monster attacks." Slowly, a little, shining sphere of light flew from the card, and went in orbit around Ben. "Now there's one."

"I'll end my turn here" Steiner replied.

"Then I draw" Ben said and drew a card. "I activate the effect of 'Spacegate'. While there is one or more counters on Spacegate, I can send it to the graveyard, in order to Special Summon a monster with the same level or a level lower than the number of counters on Spacegate. Since there is one counter, I get to Special Summon the level 1 'Destructive Imp' (200/100) in Attack Mode." The upright-standing card disappeared and the little shining sphere flew in front of Ben, and exploded, revealing a small, purple imp, with a lighter in his hands, though the lighter was almost bigger than the imp himself. Suddenly, a loud laughter filled the entire room. "Next up is my face-down card, 'Avenger's Blast'. This Spell Card requires my current situation. The opponent must have at least twice the number of Life Points as I have, I must have exactly six cards in my hand, and I must have 'Destructive Imp' in attack mode. By sending my entire hand and my 'Destructive Imp' to the Graveyard, I can Special Summon the level 12 'Hateful Avenger'." The little imp slowly began to grow, until it eventually filled more than half the entire room. Its colours turned a darker shade of purple, and large horns and spikes grew out from everywhere on the demon's body.

"Hah. But what good is that monster?" Steiner asked. "It's got no attack points."

"Tch. My monster doesn't need Attack Points" Ben said. "By sending one card from the top of my deck to the Graveyard, I can equip my 'Hateful Avenger' with any monster in either player's graveyard." Ben took a card from his deck and sent it to the Graveyard. Then, a relief of a large, red-clad magician appeared on the demon, replacing a spike that stuck out of its left shoulder. "I equip 'Hateful Avenger' with 'The Marquis of Belial' (Hateful Avenger: ATK: ?-2300/DEF: ?-2250). Now he's strong enough to take out your 'Gagagigo'. Hateful Avenger! Attack Gagagigo." The giant demon fired a large, purple bolt of lightning at the lizard, frying it in an instant.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/Ben - - - - - - - - - - Steiner/

/1450 LP- - - - - - - - 3950 LP/

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"Next off, whenever my Avenger deals damage to your Life Points, it removes from play all monsters in my graveyard, as well as the monster equipped to itself and deals 500 extra damage to your Life Points for each monster." Both players removed all monsters in their Graveyards from play, and suddenly, Steiner's Life Points dropped straight to 0. "Unfortunately for you, you destroyed 1 monster, I had 6 monsters in my hand, and the imp I had to sacrifice. That means there are at least 8 monsters removed now, giving you 4000 Points of Damage straight to your Life Points. The duel is over."

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/Ben - - - - - - - - - - Steiner/

/1450 LP- - - - - - - - - - 0 LP/

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"Congratulations to Benjamin Jackson, on winning this duel, when it seemed that his opponent had the upper hand" the commentator said. Ben turned around and left the Arena, before too many fans would be coming to get an autograph. He went back to the Preparation Room, where he had sat just before the Duel began. He didn't listen to the commentator's long speech, but instead, he headed straight back to the Blue Dorm.

However, as he came out of the Main Building, Xander and the others came running at him, all seeming exhausted.

"What's up?" Xander asked, as they stopped.

---

Meanwhile, another place, a young boy, about the same age and size as Xander, was walking around in a completely dark room, with a machine with multiple lights, being the only light-source. Two men sat around a table, both wearing black robes, making them almost invisible in the darkness. Slowly, two other robed people entered the door to the room, and sat down around the table as well.

"For the first time since you became the leader of your organization, we are all gathered in the same place" one of the robed men said.

"Remember that we helped him gain his power" another replied. "He used to be a weakling, now he's like a god. A manifestation of something which the human mind can't seem to comprehend."

"Can't anyone of you remember the promise we made, to help him become someone special, without using the power of shadows?" a third asked. "Apparently, I'm the only one of us who can."

"I don't remember that" the fourth said. "I was only recruited after our master sacrificed the one before me, to gain the Power you now have."

"Ah yes" the young boy replied. "The Power that I was willing to sacrifice someone for. I must admit that I had a great time those two minutes it took to sacrifice him just to gain a little bit of power."

"Can the meeting begin?" the fourth asked.

"Yes" the boy said, and sat down at the table. "Let me hear your Status Report, my men."

"Your Target and his friends are searching for me even as we speak, my lord" the fourth replied.

"The Target? You mean Alexander Barkley?" the second asked. "I've dueled against him twice."

"So have I" the first said. "He managed to beat me both times."

"Hah" the second replied. "That means I'm better than you. He only beat me the second time."

"I have found myself another target than Alexander Barkley" the third said. "I would like to go after a certain someone."

"Who is that?" the fourth asked. "Don't stray from our master's orders."

"Don't worry" the third said. "I won't. I'll even bring you a souvenir, once I return."

"Then go if it is so important that you go after this opponent of yours" the boy replied.

"Opponent?" the third asked? "I ain't going after an opponent. I'm going after their weapons. Their cards."

"Is it the Target's?" the first asked.

"No" the third said. "I don't want to confront them head-on."

"Then what do you intend to do?" the second asked.

"I've formulated a plan to gain easy access to valuable information about their decks" the third said. "I just have to sneak into their rooms when they sleep and write down everything about their respective cards and their stats and effects."

"Don't do that" the boy replied. "I do not wish that you appear to have gained a sudden boost of knowledge about their decks. That would only make them change their decks completely."

"May I come with a suggestion, my lord?" the fourth asked.

"Go ahead" the boy said. "What is it?"

"Give us access to _the_ card" the fourth answered. "I believe that those two could use a little boost of power for their decks."

---

"So you say, that you can't find him?" Ben asked, as he sat comfortably leaned back in his black armchair in his room. Xander, Shane, Jake and Rob all sat around on regular chairs, which were nowhere as comfortable. "Are you sure?"

"Completely sure" Xander answered. "I don't think there's anywhere we haven't been."

"True" Jake said. "Rob and I even checked in the Detention Center, but he wasn't there either."

"But we did get beat up by Dax's people" Rob added. "That's got to count for something."

"You're right" Jake said. "Two points down on the ranking lists."

"Oh, so it's not that bad?" Rob asked. "We just made room for two aspiring Duelists to be better than us by default."

"That might be because neither of you actually have a strategy" Ben said. "Let me try seeing your decks for once."

"Okay" Jake replied and gave his deck to Ben, who started looking it through. Rob did the same after a short moment. "Aren't they just awesome?"

"Why are there only cards with cool pictures in your decks?" Ben asked. "Have you even read the effects?"

"Who needs effects when you've got cool pictures?" Rob replied.

"Just about every Duelist with a little bit of self-respect" Shane interfered. "Also those without self-respect. Which begs the question: Why do you even play the game?" Slowly, Ben stood up from his chair, and went into a small room, next to the bedroom.

"If you two want to be Tag Duelists, you should learn to duel as a team" he said on the way. "Come back tomorrow. Then I'll let you know what teamwork means."

"Uh, okay" they both said, and all four left the room.

---

Next day, during one of the classes, Ben was called down to the Chancellor's Office. On his way, he heard multiple other students questioning whether he could actually be a Pro League Duelist, or if it was all just a big prank. However, Ben didn't care about what they said, and headed straight to the office. He entered the large room with a red carpet and white walls all around, as well as a large panorama view behind the Chancellor's desk, without even knocking on the door and sat down on a chair in front of the desk.

"Ah, good to see you" the Chancellor said in a friendly voice, as Ben sat down. "Please do not hate me for calling you in the middle of a class, but there is something, that I need to talk to you about."

"And what is it that is so important that you have to call me in the middle of a class?" Ben asked curiously.

"I actually have some good news and some bad news for you" the Chancellor said. "The good news first, I just received a package for you from Industrial Illusions."

"I'll take a look at that when I get back to my room" Ben replied. "What else?"

"The bad news is that I have heard that the Students are being challenged by robed people when they are not inside the Main Building and the dorms" the Chancellor said. "I fear that the students are in danger."

"Are those robed people the so-called Agents?" Ben asked. "If they are, I've already seen one of them. He said his name is Sigma."

"Sigma, you say?" the Chancellor replied surprised. "That's what my brother used to call one of his friends not long ago."

"So your brother knows this 'Sigma'?" Ben asked. "Where is this brother of yours?"

"I have no idea" the Chancellor said. "Now, I do not have much more to talk about right now, except the upcoming matches in the Pro League. I will give you a list of the upcoming duels, so you can prepare your deck for the duels."

"Thanks" Ben replied and took the package and the list, after which he left the office. "Hmm... the last of my classes will be finished by the time I return, so I'll just head back to the Blue Dorm. By the way, I'd like a week off. Same goes for Jake and Rob."

---

Meanwhile, the four robed people entered a small, dark room, only lit up by the light from several small, not so effective Light-Emitting Diodes that just made the room seem darker than it actually was. Two of the men were empty-handed, while the other two, one of whom wore a plain, white mask, carried an unconscious person. The two quickly dropped him off on the table in the middle of the room, and sat down around the table.

"Excellent job" a young boy, who stood in front of the machine, on which the only light-source was, said. "You have provided me with large amounts of energy for the machine. And I see you brought a guest. What is your name, dear guest?"

"I won't answer that question" the person replied. "Even if it costs my life, I won't answer it."

"I think you will" the boy said. "Men, let us do the first test of function one."

"Yes, my lord" the four robed people replied at the same time, and grabbed the person, they had dropped on the table, and carried him over to the machine. The boy opened a hatch, and the others threw the person inside.

"Now, let us start out by checking your pain-threshold" the boy said and turned on the machine. "I'll get your name out of you somehow."

---

Later, Ben was back in the large room, sitting in the armchair, with his feet on the stool. He had just opened the package from Industrial Illusions, and had found a bunch of cards inside, along with a note, saying that they wanted to let him have the chance to try out the newest series of cards, that would only be produced in this single edition for now. Of course, none of the cards were any he had ever seen before, but he hadn't even thought of some of the effects. Suddenly, Jake and Rob came rushing through the door. They both fell on their faces as they got through the door, making Ben wish he hadn't asked them to come.

"What are you doing?" Ben asked curiously, as Rob and Jake slowly got up.

"Didn't you tell us to come here, so you could help us rebuild our decks?" Jake replied.

"I did" Ben said. "Now, give me your decks and let me have some time to rebuild them."

"Uh, okay" Rob replied and gave his deck to Ben. Slowly, and hesitatingly, Jake also let go of his deck.

"By the way, Team Wipeout challenged us to a 12-man tournament" Ben said, as he went into a smaller room, opposite from the bedroom. "It's one week from now."

"Really?" Jake and Rob shouted scared.

"Yeah, you hadn't heard?" Ben asked. "And those who don't make it past the first round must leave the Academy."

"We're out of here" Jake said.

"I don't think we'll make it through the first turn" Rob replied. "And I'm being optimistic right now."

"You're not out if you get better. I've already constructed two Pro-level decks, that you can practice with" Ben said. "Once I'm done working on your decks, I'll have a match against you two."

"Cool" Jake replied.

"The practice decks are the two on the desk" Ben said. "You won't need your Duel-Disks, when practicing, so you can just use the desk. Just don't damage the cards."

"Okay" Rob said and grabbed one of the decks that were on the desk face-down. "I'll take this deck."

"Then I'll take this one" Jake replied and grabbed the other deck. They both shuffled the cards, and then placed the decks on the desk. "Let's duel."

"Okay" Rob said.

---

Half an hour later, Ben returned from the smaller room, and noticed that the two had managed to lock down each other, making the duel stop completely. He held two decks in his hands, of which almost none of the cards were the same as when he started rebuilding the decks.

"Wow" Jake mumbled, as Ben came. "Stalemates are so exciting."

"What's wrong?" Ben asked as he saw them.

"It's your fault, Ben" Jake and Rob shouted at him simultaneously. "Those decks are too good."

"How's that bad?" Ben asked.

"No matter what I do, he'll just counter it" Rob complained.

"And you're complaining?" Jake asked. "You're the one who keeps countering my counters."

"You two don't know what duelist is all about" Ben said. "Well, on the bright side, you won't have to listen to boring teachers for the next week."

"What do you mean?" Jake replied asking.

"What I said. You two have the next week off" Ben answered. "However, this means that I'll be in charge of everything you do, when you're not dueling."

"Aw, man" Rob sighed. "I don't know if that's better or worse than listening to those geezers."

"You shouldn't call them such names" Ben said. "I'll leave you two with your Duel."

"But we can't do anything" Jake replied. "We'll just counter each other's moves."

"That's because you don't know how to preserve Spell and Trap Cards properly, then" Ben said. "And if you haven't noticed, you can't keep countering forever. At some point, one of you will run out of cards to counter with."

"No we won't" Rob replied. "Not before the eleventh card would be activated."

"See my point?" Ben asked. "Pack up and show me how well you can cooperate using the decks I just created."

"What good will that do, if we're nowhere your level?" Jake replied asking. "Even if we try to work together, we can't hit you."

"Then do more than 'try'" Ben said and went out of the room.

---

"Now, why don't you just tell me your name?" the boy in the dark room asked a person, who was being kept in a small, closed chamber, that in varying intervals increased in temperature, while the walls closed in a little bit, though it wasn't enough to do any actual harm to the person inside. "All your pain… all your suffering… all of it will end if you just tell me your name."

"Never" the person said. "I'll never bend. Why don't we settle this through a duel?"

"Oh, I'd love to, but trust me" the boy replied. "You will consider this an act of mercy, compared to dueling against the power of the shadows incarnate."

"I doubt that" the person said. "Besides, you can't keep me here forever. At some point, I'll be unable to tell you my name, and even if that time comes too soon, there will be some people who'll start looking for me."

"Did you try to threaten me or was that a joke?" the boy asked. "No matter what, I don't think it's going to make a difference. I am Malcolm Thorn, Director of the Thorn Empire and in control of the shadows themselves."

"Who cares about you?" the person replied. "You're just full of yourself."

"And you too" Malcolm said. "Once I'm done with you, that is. I'll give you a choice. You can either become my servant, or you can become my sacrifice."

"I'll choose the latter" the person replied. "There's no way, I'll let a kid like you control me."

"You'll regret it" Malcolm said and left him. "Agents. Set the machine to use 20 percent of the maximal power."

"Yes, sir" the four robed men replied and began pressing some buttons on the machinery.

---

Back in the dorms, the students were spending the evening in various ways. Some dueled, others watched them duel; some actually did some of their homework. Rob and Jake were trying for the tenth time that day to beat Ben, but were close to losing once more. Meanwhile, everything was peaceful in the dorms, and in the area surrounding the dorms. However, not everything on Earth was that peaceful, especially not Malcolm's place.

Slowly, while nobody was watching, one of the robed men turned off the machine, and went towards it, staring at the person inside.

"Don't worry" the robed person said to the person inside the machine. "I don't want to hurt you. If you cooperate, I can get you out of here."

"Why not just finish it?" the person asked. "You probably only want to take me outside, so I can get to see the world outside one last time."

"No, Mr. Trace" the robed person said. "I want you to bring a message to a certain duelist here on the island."

"Yeah, right" the person replied. "Let me out first, then we can talk."

"Fine" the robed person said and opened a hatch in the machine, and a person, about the same size as Ben, came out. However, it was impossible to see anything in details, due to the lack of light. "I have let you out. Now, follow me."

"First, how did you know my last name?" the person asked. "It's not one of the details I tell everyone."

"I just know" the robed person said. "Now, if you want to get out, follow me. Otherwise, you're on your own."

"Then tell me who the Duelist is" Mr. Trace replied, as they began heading outside. "I'll give him the message as agreed, but after that, you and your colleagues will refrain from having any contact with me. Deal?"

"I accept your terms, however, I doubt that the others will uphold our end of the bargain" the robed person said. After about 10 minutes, the two were just about a kilometer from where Mr. Trace had been kept as a prisoner. They headed into an overgrown area, consisting mainly of trees and some bushes every now and then. Quickly, the robed person grabbed one of the lower hanging branches on one of the trees and used it to get up and sat on the quite thick branch squatting. Then he pulled out a pen and some paper and began to write something down, and gave the paper to Mr. Trace. "Here. Deliver this message to Alexander Barkley, and I will try to make the others leave you alone."

"And if he asks who it's from, who do you want me to address as the sender?" Mr. Trace asked as he took the paper.

"That would just be a problem, if he doesn't show up" the robed person said. "I'll let you go now, so please go bring that message."

"Will do" Mr. Trace replied and ran off towards a large, peculiarly looking building, barely two kilometers from his current location. He hurried as much as he could, though he knew it would do him no good anyway. He could barely even see the building he was headed towards, and even if he could see, it would probably not have helped much anyway, since he was so close to falling asleep, that he practically ran sleeping. "How long did they keep me there? Hours? Days? Months, perhaps?" The man soon reached the large building, and from there, he felt like he knew exactly what way to go, if he was to deliver the message. He continued running, this time towards the Red Dorm, hoping that Xander would be there in the middle of the night.

---

Next morning, on the way to the Main Building, Xander, Shane and Ben found a person lying in the middle of the road between the Red Dorm and the Main Building, holding a folded note, which, as far as they could see, was addressed to Xander. His face was buried in the dirt, making it impossible for anyone to see who it was. Xander took the note out of the person's hand, and, after unfolding it, began reading the text inside.

"'Meet me in front of the Main Building in 4 weeks, at 11:30 PM'" Xander read aloud. "'Feel free to bring an audience, as big as you wish. I want to duel against you. I want to see if your deck is as good as they say.'"

"Who wrote that?" Shane asked. "And who duels half to midnight?"

"The guy who wrote this note, apparently" Xander said. "I just want to know who wrote it, but I can only find out by showing up."

"You should do that" Ben replied. "It might even help us find Nick. And don't worry if Jake and Rob don't show up today. I've told them that Team Wipeout has challenged us to a 12-man tournament next week."

"They've what?" Xander asked. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Well, you know me" Ben said. "You ought to know that you shouldn't trust everything I say. They didn't challenge us. Actually, the truth is slightly different."

"You challenged them?" Shane guessed.

"Dax challenged Jake and Rob?" Xander suggested.

"Neither of you were right" Ben said. "I'll let you know the truth in a week."

"You'd better not be lying" Xander replied. "Well, we'll see you guys next week."

"See you" Ben said and went towards the docks.

"I wonder who that note is from" Xander mumbled, as he and Shane went to have the first classes of the day.

* * *

And now that you've read the chapter, please feel free to give a comment or two. Or don't. The choice is yours, but I would be happy if you gave me a review.


End file.
